People often ask us what the standard size of a WHMIS pictogram is. The honest answer will surprise you: there isn't one. Here is what the law actually asks for, and what we recommend depending on where the label is going to live.
WHMIS sets no dimension at all
The Hazardous Products Regulations contain no X by Y. They require the label and its pictograms to be readable with the naked eye, and the red diamond to be visible and complete. That is all.
Be wary of a supplier who announces a standard WHMIS size: they are selling a format, not a standard. What matters is that a worker recognizes the symbol from wherever they are looking at it.
What we recommend, and why
| Where it goes | Recommended size | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Shop container, jug, pail | 4 in. (102 mm) | Readable at arm's length, and the diamond stays whole on a curved surface. |
| 205-litre drum, tank | 6 in. (152 mm) | You see it walking into the room, not only up close. |
| Storage area, room door, cabinet | 6 to 10 in. (152 to 254 mm) | It has to read from the far end of the warehouse, often in poor light. |
| Small lab container | 2 in. (51 mm) | The container is small; the label has to fit without wrapping all the way around. |
The configurator sets 4 in. (102 mm) by default on WHMIS pictograms. That is a recommendation, not an obligation — change it without worry, no regulatory warning will appear, because there is nothing to break.
The material matters more than the size
A WHMIS pictogram spends its life next to solvents, oil and cleaning products. Three pieces of advice straight from the shop:
- Choose varnish. Without one, a rag soaked in solvent will eventually carry the ink away. Gloss varnish cleans up better; matte varnish does not glare under a fluorescent tube.
- Matte white vinyl sticks to almost anything — metal, rigid plastic, painted wood. On soft polyethylene (the translucent jugs), plan on wiping with alcohol before you apply it.
- For a storage area, mount the pictogram on a composite aluminum panel: it screws to the wall, it does not buckle, and it can be swapped out without leaving residue behind.
Our files
Our ten WHMIS pictograms are built from the official vector files — no hand-redrawn image, no approximate outline. They already carry a cut line: you get the diamond kiss-cut, not a white square with a drawing in the middle.
One pictogram at a time does not cost much, but the $40 minimum order applies. In practice, most of our customers take a sheet of them: it costs about the same and there are some left for the next containers.