Hazardous Drug Storage

On February 1, 2016, the United States Pharmacopeial Convention released new guidelines for the storage and handling of hazardous drugs (HDs) in healthcare settings (USP General Chapter 800). It defines a hazardous drug as:

any drug identified as hazardous or potentially hazardous by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) on the basis of at least one of the following six criteria: carcinogenicity, teratogenicity or developmental toxicity, reproductive toxicity in humans, organ toxicity at low doses in humans or animals, genotoxicity, and new drugs that mimic existing hazardous drugs in structure or toxicity.

The purpose of these guidelines is to minimize exposure to HDs to help promote patient safety, worker safety and safety of the environment. A mandatory compliance date of July 1, 2018 was established. USP 800 requires dedicated storage for HDs, meaning that refrigerated HDs must be stored in their own refrigerator. It also specifies that this refrigerator must be housed in a negative pressure area with at least 12 air changes per hour (ACPH).

Follett offers high performance pharmacy refrigerators and freezers that help support USP requirements.