Powered by GoogleTranslate

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

English | Spanish

Hazardous Drugs

Hazardous Drugs - Photo Credit: iStock.com-93540707 | Copyright: JurgaR
Hazardous Drugs Menu

Standards

State Standards

There are twenty-eight OSHA-approved State Plans, operating state-wide occupational safety and health programs. State Plans are required to have standards and enforcement programs that are at least as effective as OSHA's and may have different or more stringent requirements.

This section highlights OSHA standards and guides to letters of interpretation (official letters of interpretation of the standards) and both State and professional standards related to hazardous drugs. Some agents have specific OSHA standards, but many of the requirements arise out of professional documents and good management practices.

The Oncology Nursing Society/American Society of Clinical Oncology guidance provides extensive guidance on program development and management, including an implementation guide.

USP 797, and now 800, provide the national professional standard for pharmacy processes to protect the safety and health of employees, not only patients. These standards include infrastructure maintenance standards, such as guide management of biosafety cabinets, that go far beyond the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) biosafety guidance.

Other relevant standards come from the National Sanitation Foundation on biosafety cabinets.

OSHA

General Industry (29 CFR 1910)

  • 1910.1020, Access to employee exposure and medical records. OSHA requires the reporting of employee exposure to hazardous medications, and allows access to these records by employees.
  • 1910.1200, Hazard communication. Includes the coverage of drugs and pharmaceuticals in the non-manufacturing sector. Requires any drugs posing a health hazard (with the exception of those in solid, final form for direct administration to the patient, i.e., tablets or pills) be included on lists of hazardous chemicals to which employees are exposed. In compliance with this standard all personnel involved in any aspect of the handling of covered hazardous medications must receive information and training to appraise them of the hazards in the work area. [related topic page]
  • 1910.1450, Occupational exposure to hazardous chemicals in laboratories

Letters of Interpretation

State

Note: These are NOT OSHA regulations. However, they do provide guidance from their originating organizations related to worker protection.

  • Hazardous Drugs Rule. Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. Adopted on January 3, 2012 and took effect in 3 stages January 1, 2015.

State Standards

There are twenty-eight OSHA-approved State Plans, operating state-wide occupational safety and health programs. State Plans are required to have standards and enforcement programs that are at least as effective as OSHA's and may have different or more stringent requirements.

Back to Top

Thank You for Visiting Our Website

You are exiting the Department of Labor's Web server.

The Department of Labor does not endorse, takes no responsibility for, and exercises no control over the linked organization or its views, or contents, nor does it vouch for the accuracy or accessibility of the information contained on the destination server. The Department of Labor also cannot authorize the use of copyrighted materials contained in linked Web sites. Users must request such authorization from the sponsor of the linked Web site. Thank you for visiting our site. Please click the button below to continue.

Close