Handling Hazardous & Infectious Materials

Hazardous materials in a healthcare setting include chemical agents (cleaning and disinfecting agents, chemotherapy drugs), infectious/biohazardous waste (anything contaminated with blood or body fluids), and radioactive materials used in certain treatments or diagnostics — each requires specific handling, storage, and disposal procedures, and safety data sheets (SDS, formerly MSDS) provide detailed information on a given chemical's hazards, safe handling, and emergency response measures, and should be consulted (and known to be accessible) for any chemical used on a unit. Biohazardous waste is disposed of in clearly labeled, leak-proof, color-coded (commonly red or marked with a biohazard symbol) containers, kept separate from regular waste, since improper disposal risks exposure for other staff, waste handlers, and the environment.