BILL NUMBER: AB 1202	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Skinner

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2013

   An act to add Section 144.8 to the Labor Code, relating to
occupational safety and health standards.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1202, as introduced, Skinner. Occupational safety and health
standards: hazardous drugs.
   Under existing law, the Occupational Safety and Health Standards
Board within the Department of Industrial Relations promulgates
occupational safety and health standards for the state, including
standards dealing with toxic materials and harmful physical agents.
Violations of these standards and regulations is a crime.
   This bill would require the board to adopt a standard for the
handling of antineoplastic and other hazardous drugs, as defined, in
health care facilities regardless of the setting. The bill would
require the standard to be consistent with and not exceed specific
recommendations adopted by the National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health for preventing occupational exposures to those
drugs in health care settings. By creating a new crime, this bill
would impose a state-mandated local program.
   The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares the following:
   (a) Health care personnel who work with or near hazardous drugs in
health care settings may be exposed to these agents in the air, on
work surfaces, clothing, and medical equipment, or through patient
contact.
   (b)  According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health, early concerns about occupational exposure to
antineoplastic drugs first appeared in the 1970s. Antineoplastic and
other hazardous drugs may cause skin rashes, infertility,
miscarriages, and birth defects, and have been linked to a wide
variety of cancers.
   (c) In 2004, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health published an alert on preventing occupational exposures to
antineoplastic and other hazardous drugs in health care settings, and
updated that alert in 2010. In this alert, the National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health "presents a standard precautions
or universal precautions approach to handling hazardous drugs safely:
that is, NIOSH recommends that all hazardous drugs be handled as
outlined in this Alert."
   (d) It is the intent of the Legislature to require the
Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board to adopt standards
that require health care facilities to comply with all aspects of the
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health alert
regardless of the setting in order to protect health care personnel
from hazardous exposure to these drugs.
  SEC. 2.  Section 144.8 is added to the Labor Code, to read:
   144.8.  (a) As used in this section the following definitions
shall apply:
   (1) "Antineoplastic drug" means a chemotherapeutic agent that
controls or kills cancer cells.
   (2) "Hazardous drug" means any drug identified by the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health at the federal Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention or any drug that meets 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, or new
drugs that mimic existing hazardous drugs in structure or toxicity.
   (3) "NIOSH" means the National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health.
   (b) The board shall adopt an occupational safety and health
standard for the handling of antineoplastic and other hazardous drugs
in health care facilities regardless of the setting. In developing
the standard, the board shall consider input from hospitals,
organizations representing health care personnel, and other
stakeholders, and shall determine a reasonable time for facilities to
implement new requirements imposed by the adopted standard. The
standard shall be consistent with and not exceed recommendations in
the NIOSH 2004 alert entitled "Preventing Occupational Exposures to
Antineoplastic and Other Hazardous Drugs in Health Care Settings," as
updated in 2010. The standard may incorporate applicable updates and
changes to NIOSH guidelines.
  SEC. 3.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.