WHMIS 2015 divides hazardous products into two major hazard groups: physical hazards and health hazards. The two groups are further divided into a number of classes.
- Physical hazards, based on the physical or chemical properties of the product, such as flammability, reactive or corrosively to metals
- Health hazards, based on the ability of the product to cause a health effect such:
- Eye irritation
- Respiratory sensitization (may cause allergy or asthma symptoms or breathing difficulties
- Carcinogenicity (may cause cancer)
Physical Hazards
A physical hazard is a product that fall into one or more of the hazard classes. Suppliers classify products and assign one or more of the appropriate symbols.
![](https://zz343f.a2cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/1-10-1-1.png)
Health hazards
![](https://zz343f.a2cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/1-10-1a-1.png)
Each hazard class contains at least one category. The hazard categories are assigned a number (1, 2 etc.). Categories can also be called “types” that are assigned an alphabetical letter (A, B, C, etc.).
In some case, subcategories are specified and are identified with a number and letter (ex. 1A and 1B).
The category and subcategory identify the severity of the hazardous product
- Category 1 is always the greatest level of hazards. If Category 1 is further divided, Category 1A is greater than Category 1B
- Category 2 within the same hazard class is more hazardous than Category 3
![](https://zz343f.a2cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/1-10-1b-1.png)