Numerous references are available on the topic of guidelines, recommendations, and regulations for handling antineoplastic and other hazardous agents.
The Department of Health and Human Services in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has publications and other references that cover all aspects of the topic at www.cdc.gov/niosh. Click on Hazards & Exposures, then click on Antineoplastic Agents, and finally on NIOSH Publications. Links to several informative documents can be found on this page, including Preventing Occupational Exposure to Antineoplastic and Other Hazardous Drugs in Health Care Settings and the NIOSH List of Antineoplastic and Other Hazardous Drugs in Healthcare Settings, 2016. The latter document discusses the criteria used to define hazardous drugs and places drugs into three different groups: (1) antineoplastic drugs, (2) nonantineoplastic drugs that meet one or more of the NIOSH criteria for a hazardous drug, and (3) drugs that primarily pose a reproductive risk to men and women who are actively trying to conceive and women who are pregnant or breast-feeding. This publication also provides general guidance on personal protective equipment and engineering controls when working with hazardous drugs in health care settings.
The United States Pharmacopeia published General Chapter <800> in the First Supplement to USP 39–NF 34. The purpose of this chapter is to describe practice and quality standards for handling hazardous drugs in health care settings and to help promote patient safety, worker safety, and environmental protection. The new general chapter defines processes intended to minimize the exposure to hazardous drugs in health care settings.
Other frequently cited guidelines on handling hazardous drugs are available from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, the Oncology Nursing Society, and the International Society of Oncology Pharmacy Practitioners.
Together these guidelines and regulations represent the recommendations of many diverse groups and have been established to promote not only patient safety but also worker safety and environmental protection.