Common Hazardous Materials in Healthcare Facilities

The HERC website will help you find detailed information on the following types of hazardous materials:

• Mercury
• Pharmaceuticals
• Sterilants and disinfectants
• Cleaning chemicals
• Laboratory chemicals
• Pesticides

For each material type, the website provides a summary page that describes:

• the properties of the material, with particular emphasis on the properties that are important for the function it serves
• the risks associated with the material
• the compliance requirements that follow from regulations applying to the material
• opportunities that have been identified for eliminating the material or replacing it with less hazardous alternatives
• links to more detailed resources

Healthcare facilities generally use a hazardous material for one of three reasons:

1. It is serving a vital function, and no other material will work.
2. There may be less hazardous alternatives, but the trade-offs have been carefully considered and the hazardous material has been provisionally selected because it provides crucial advantages.
3. We've always done it this way.

The summary pages are intended to help you identify those cases in your facility for which reason #3 applies and which may need reconsideration.