Claims Registration

A total of 347 claims for exemption were registered with the Hazardous Materials Information Review Commission in 2008-2009. All eligible claims were verified and registered within seven days, in keeping with the Commission's service standard - in recognition of industry's need for a swift time to market for new products.

CLAIMS REGISTERED OVER LAST 5 YEARS

Eligible claims represented 82% of claims submitted; for the remaining 18%, applicants were required to provide additional information before registration could be completed. Approximately 69% of claims for exemption were original filings; 31% were refiling of previously approved claims. These percentages have remained steady over the last four years.

NEW AND REFILED CLAIMS REGISTERED - LAST 5 YEARS

Nearly 51% of claims for exemption came from U.S. suppliers, who must comply with Canadian regulations to compete fairly in the Canadian market. The remaining 49% of claims were submitted by Canadian suppliers - most from Ontario, a trend that has emerged over the last five years. There seems to be a shift towards a higher percentage of U.S. claims.

PROVINCIAL, CANADA AND US ORIGIN OF CLAIMS IN 2008-09

Claim Processing

In 2008-09, HMIRC initiated its three-year backlog reduction plan. Decisions were issued on a total of 504 claims for exemption.

The Commission continued to give priority attention to claims for products likely to pose major health risks for workers. Of the 504 decisions issued, 50% were classified as high-hazard; which are claims with ingredients likely to pose a high risk to workers. These were reviewed without significant delay so that corrected MSDSs could reach the workplace quickly.

BACKLOG ELIMINATION PLAN

Advice Documents

The Commission has achieved its target for the past year of the backlog reduction plan completing 552 advice documents and issued 504 decisions.

NUMBER OF ADVICE DOCUMENTS AND DECISIONS/ORDERS COMPLETED - LAST 5 YEARS

Dispute Prevention

Last year, the Commission successfully addressed 355 claimant inquiries. Through dialogue and information-sharing, HMIRC helped resolve all issues, clarify requirements and avert disputes and only received one appeal.

Compliance Trends

Over the past couple of years, the Commission has noted a decrease in the number of corrections required to MSDSs, due in large part to initiatives put in place by HMIRC. For example, claimants are provided with more guidance on the requirements of an MSDS thereby resulting in more accurate and complete data sheets. In addition, as the Commission continues to reduce its backlog of older claims, it is beginning to review more recent claims with more accurate, up-to-date information on their MSDSs.

VIOLATIONS PER CLAIM

Overall claims (504):	5.7 instances of non-compliance
Original claims (348):	6.7 instances of non-compliance
Refiled claims (156):	3.5 instances of non-compliance

 

NUMBER OF VIOLATIONS PER CLAIM - LAST 5 YEARS

NUMBER OF VIOLATIONS PER CLAIM NEW VS. REFILED - LAST 5 YEARS

The majority of violations fall within the categories of toxicology, identity of hazardous ingredients and first aid. Accuracy in these three areas is critical. In the toxicology category for example, high percentage of violations were recorded for acute exposure effects. If these effects are not known, the appropriate protective measures will not be taken potentially resulting in fatal consequences.

VIOLATIONS FOR TOXICOLOGY, HAZARDOUS INGREDIENTS, FIRST AID

MSDS VIOLATIONS IN 2008-09

Violations Category	Number of Violations in 2008-09	%
Toxicological Properties	825	28.8
Hazardous Ingredients*	571	20.0
First Aid Measures	339	11.8
Headings/Format, etc.	302	10.6
Preparation Information	240	8.4
Reactivity Data	183	6.4
Physical Data	128	4.5
Fire or Explosion Hazard	112	3.9
Hazard Classification	91	3.2
Preventive Measures	37	1.3
Product Information	33	1.2
Total	2861	100
Number of claims	504
Average number of violations per claim	5.7

* Hazardous Ingredients