📚 Guide by Safety Mom · Allstar Enviro Safety — The Chemical Safety is an online workplace safety course delivered by Safety Mom · Allstar Enviro Safety, Calgary’s Energy Safety Canada Authorized Training Provider. Self-paced, mobile-friendly, same-day certificate upon exam completion. Available across Canada.
🔗 Related Safety Mom courses & guides: H2S Alive Calgary · Standard First Aid Calgary · Oil Sands Safety Certs · Instructor: Arliss Levine, CRSP, CHSC
COURSE OVERVIEW
This lesson covers the required awareness training on the occupational hazards common to the handling and use of chemicals, measures you can take to protect yourself from chemical hazards, safe practices for chemical storage and waste disposal, and the correct response to emergency situations involving chemical spills. This lesson does not cover information related to radiological agents, explosives, and biohazardous/infectious agents.
Upon successful completion of this course, you should have a better understanding of:
- Recognizing chemical hazards in the workplace and the associated risks of their use
- Conditions that may present an exposure risk, possible exposure routes, and factors that influence an individual’s reaction to a chemical exposure incident
- Safety precautions that should be taken by workers and employers to minimize exposure to chemicals
- Safe storage, transport, and disposal practices for hazardous chemicals
- Proper response actions in the event of a chemical incident
COURSE TOPICS
- Introduction
- Exposure Hazards and Risks
- Safety Precautions
- Safe Handling
ONLINE COURSE DURATION
Approximately 20 minutes
PASS MARK
Testing conducted throughout this online course is designed to reinforce the information presented. A mark of 80% must be achieved in order to receive a certificate of completion. Participants are able to repeat the course twice if the pass mark is not achieved.
CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION
Upon successful completion of this online course, a certificate of completion will be available for download and printing.
COURSE PREVIEW
Additional Safety Knowledge
Chemical Hazard Classification in Canada
Under WHMIS 2015 aligned with the Globally Harmonised System (GHS), chemicals are classified into physical hazards (16 classes including flammability, oxidising, explosive, gases under pressure) and health hazards (10 classes including acute toxicity, skin corrosion, carcinogenicity, reproductive toxicity, specific target organ toxicity). Each class has categories (1 = most severe, 4 or 5 = least severe) that determine label pictograms and signal words.
Occupational Exposure Limits in Alberta
Alberta OHS Schedule 1 lists Occupational Exposure Limits (OELs) for over 700 hazardous substances. Each substance has:
- 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA): the average concentration over an 8-hour shift.
- Short-term exposure limit (STEL): the maximum 15-minute average.
- Ceiling limit: concentration that must never be exceeded even briefly.
Some substances also carry a Skin (S) notation indicating dermal absorption risk, or a Sensitiser (Sen) notation. Compliance requires air monitoring, engineering controls, administrative controls, and PPE.
The Hierarchy of Chemical Controls
Alberta OHS Code requires controls in this priority order: (1) elimination or substitution — use a less hazardous product; (2) engineering controls — ventilation, enclosure, process modification; (3) administrative controls — work procedures, training, rotation; (4) personal protective equipment — respirators, gloves, chemical suits. PPE alone is not adequate compliance where higher-order controls are practicable.
Chemical Safety — Emergency Preparedness
Every workplace handling chemicals must have accessible Safety Data Sheets, spill response equipment matched to the products in use, eyewash and safety showers where corrosives are handled (within 10 metres of the hazard, delivering 1.5 gallons per minute for 15 minutes minimum per ANSI Z358.1), and trained personnel available on every shift. Fire departments and mutual aid partners should be informed of chemicals stored on-site above regulated quantities.
Content reviewed by Arliss Levine, CRSP, CHSC — lead safety instructor at Safety Mom · Allstar Enviro Safety Calgary, an Energy Safety Canada Authorized Training Provider.
