Question: Are medications that are counted out and provided as individual pills or tablets exempt from the requirement for Safety Data Sheets (SDSs)?
Answer: Short answer: since you are counting individual pills, those medications are not exempt from the HazCom standard and you still need to maintain an SDS.
Long answer: Solid tablet medications sold in their final form are exempt from the Hazard Communication Standard and therefore SDS requirements. However, there are some cases in which medications still require an SDS:
- Liquid drugs, injections, gels, and ointments
- If you materially change the form of the medication are you required to maintain an SDS -- for example, if you grind a tablet down to a powder or dissolve it in water
- If you open/count tablets/pills/capsules for packaging and processing even if they are in solid/final form.
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The Real Talk article series includes real customer questions and our answers. Since these are questions directly from actual clinics, practices, hospitals, and businesses, we thought you might have these questions too. We hope that you find this format helpful. Stay tuned for more Real Talk - your question might even be featured!