Are You Ready for December? Stock Up Now!

For many people worldwide, December is a time of celebration. If you work in the pharmaceutical industry, however, the month carries a more serious meaning: by December 1, 2019, when OSHA’s USP 800 compliance regulation goes into effect, all pharmacies, hospitals, healthcare institutions, patient treatment clinics, physicians’ practice facilities, and veterinarians’ offices will be required to provide for safe handling of hazardous drugs to minimize the risk of exposure for healthcare personnel, patients and the environment.

And having the right hazardous drug kits on hand before then is critical.

More than eight million US healthcare workers are exposed to hazardous drugs each year. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) considers a drug to be hazardous if it is known to cause cancer, reproductive harm (such as infertility), birth defects, organ toxicity at low doses, or exhibits characteristics in humans or animals that mimic existing hazardous drugs.

The new USP 800 standards describe the requirements for all pharmacies, including:

  • Responsibilities of personnel handling hazardous drugs;
  • Facility and engineering controls;
  • Procedures for deactivating, decontaminating and cleaning;
  • Spill control;
  • Documentation.

These standards apply to all healthcare personnel who receive, prepare, administer, transport or otherwise come in contact with hazardous drugs and all the environments in which they are handled.

Impact Absorbents is pleased to help businesses comply with the new standard. The Spill Hero Hazardous Drug Kit, a new drug waste cleanup and disposal kit for compounding and non-compounding pharmacies, provides a completely safe and compliant method to handle hazardous drugs, such as Fentanyl, chemotherapy drugs, waste from compounding, returned unused medicines, and biohazard waste.

We offer both a Spill Hero Hazardous Drug Basic Personal Protection Kit and a Spill Hero Hazardous Drug Deluxe Compounding Kit. The features and benefits of the Spill Hero Hazardous Drug Kits include:

  • Personal protection equipment (PPE) and tools to keep your employees safe and protected during hazardous drug interactions
  • All necessary supplies for spill clean up and disposal of hazardous drugs
  • Rx Destroyer media and XSORB Plus absorbent
  • Simplified step-by step directions for quick and easy set-up.

Most important of all, our new Hazardous Drug Kits meet USP 800 standards for compliance.

So whatever else the end of the year may mean to you, prepare now to be fully compliant with OSHA’s USP 800 standard well before the December 1, 2019 deadline. Then when the winter season starts, you’ll really have something to celebrate: employees and patients who are well protected form exposure to hazardous drugs in the workplace.

 

 

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