A safety data sheet has a fixed shape, and this checks it against that shape
Every Canadian safety data sheet is built to the same sixteen headings in the same order, under the Hazardous Products Regulations: pick up a sheet for any hazardous product and section 4 is always first-aid measures. This tool does not write a sheet. Somebody already has one from a supplier, and this walks it section by section, tracks what is genuinely there, and explains what each one is for.
The nuance almost every checklist gets wrong
Sections 1 to 11 and 16 have to carry real content. Where something genuinely does not apply, the sheet says so in words, "not applicable" or "not available", rather than sitting blank.
Sections 12 to 15, ecological information, disposal considerations, transport information and regulatory information, are different, and CCOHS is direct about it: the heading has to appear on every sheet, but the supplier has the option not to provide the content underneath it. A checklist that treats all sixteen the same way reports a document as incomplete for something Canadian regulation explicitly allows. This tool scores only the twelve sections that must carry content, and says plainly when 12 to 15 are blank that the gap is permitted rather than a fault.
Six sections this tool checks first, and whose call that is
No regulation ranks the sixteen sections against each other, and this page does not claim one does. What this tool flags first is its own editorial priority: hazard identification, first-aid, fire, spill response, handling and storage, and exposure controls and PPE. Those six change what somebody actually does before, during or immediately after using the product, so a missing entry among them is treated as a stop. A missing entry among the rest, identification, composition, physical properties, stability and reactivity, or toxicology, is still real and still flagged, as a warning rather than a stop.
The 90 day rule, and what it is not
A supplier has to update a sheet within 90 days of becoming aware of significant new hazard information: data that shifts the product's classification, moves it into another hazard class, or changes how to protect against the hazard. Buy the product inside that window and the supplier owes both the current sheet and a separate document stating what is changing.
What the rule is not is a fixed shelf life. Nothing ties an update duty to a calendar interval on its own, so an old sheet for an unchanged product is not automatically stale. The clock runs only from a specific piece of new information becoming known, which is why this tool asks for a date rather than printing an expiry: with none given, there is genuinely nothing to calculate.
A name that is missing on purpose
Section 3 sometimes shows a code name or number instead of an ingredient. That can be proper: a supplier may withhold an exact identity as confidential business information, but only after filing a claim under the Hazardous Materials Information Review Act, and the sheet still has to reference the resulting registry number rather than stay silent. An identity simply absent, with no registry number cited anywhere, has not cleared that bar, and this tool treats the two differently.
No exposure limit number, on the same basis as the UK tool
This tool does not carry an occupational exposure limit figure, and it never will. Section 8 requires the source of any exposure guideline to be named alongside the figure itself, which is the regulation signalling that WHMIS does not fix one national number. The figure and its source belong on the sheet in front of you, not on a free tool to guess. It is the same decision the COSHH assessment tool makes about workplace exposure limits: a stale figure gets trusted, and a missing one at least prompts somebody to look. The two tools are counterparts rather than translations of each other: COSHH carries its own British control hierarchy, and WHMIS 2015 is Canada's own hazard communication system, built round this sixteen section sheet and a supplier label.
What this does not do
It does not certify a safety data sheet, and no free tool could. It reports which sections carry content, which are allowed to be blank, and how the sheet stands against the 90 day rule. Whether the content is right for the actual product is the judgement of whoever wrote it and whoever relies on it.
No copy of the sheet goes anywhere
Every answer stays in your browser and is discarded when you close the tab. No account, no email address, and no copy of the sheet you are checking sent anywhere.
Common questions
Is a safety data sheet legally required for every hazardous product in Canada?
Yes, from the supplier. The Hazardous Products Act and the Hazardous Products Regulations require a supplier to provide a safety data sheet with a hazardous product sold or imported for use in a Canadian workplace. Health Canada is the federal regulator behind that duty. What an employer then has to do with the sheet on their own site, training, storage, making it available, is enforced provincially or federally depending on whose workplace it is.
Do all sixteen sections have to be filled in?
No. Sections 1 to 11 and 16 must carry real content. That is the part almost every checklist gets wrong. Sections 12 to 15, ecological information, disposal considerations, transport information and regulatory information, must still show their heading on every sheet, but Canadian regulation lets the supplier leave the content out. A blank section 13 is not a defect in the document. A blank section 8 is.
When does a supplier have to update a safety data sheet?
Within 90 days of becoming aware of significant new information: new data that changes the classification in a category or subcategory of a hazard class, moves it into another hazard class entirely, or changes the ways to protect against the hazard. Buy the product inside that 90 day window and the supplier owes both the current sheet and a separate document stating what is changing and when the new information came in.
Does an old safety data sheet automatically count as out of date?
No. There is no fixed shelf life written into the rule. The 90 day clock only starts once the supplier has become aware of significant new hazard information, so a five-year-old sheet for an unchanged product is not out of date on age alone. This tool will not invent an expiry date it has no source for: without a specific date of awareness, there is nothing to calculate.
Why does section 3 sometimes show a code number instead of the actual ingredient name?
Because a supplier can claim confidential business information, but only through a formal route. A claim has to be filed under the Hazardous Materials Information Review Act, and once it is granted the sheet has to reference the resulting registry number rather than staying silent, with the withheld name replaced by a code name or code number. An ingredient identity that is simply missing, with no registry number cited anywhere on the sheet, has not cleared that bar.
Where is the occupational exposure limit figure?
Not on this tool, on purpose, the same call made for the UK COSHH assessment tool on this site. Section 8 of a safety data sheet has to name the source of any occupational exposure guideline or biological exposure limit alongside the figure itself, which is the regulation signalling that the number is not fixed centrally by WHMIS. The figure and where it comes from belong on the sheet in front of you.
Is this the same as a COSHH assessment?
No. COSHH is a UK regulation built around its own control hierarchy and its own workplace exposure limit list, EH40, which that tool deliberately does not carry either. WHMIS 2015 is a different instrument entirely: Canada's own hazard communication system, built on the sixteen section format and a supplier label rather than an employer-written control hierarchy. This tool is the Canadian counterpart in subject, not a translation of the British one.
Does this tool certify that my safety data sheet is compliant?
No, and it never will. It checks whether the sixteen sections that should carry content actually do, and explains what each one is for. Whether the content in those sections is right for the product in front of you is the judgement of whoever wrote the sheet and whoever is relying on it at the workplace.