In the 21st century, many continue to use mercury thermometers. This is not surprising, because they make mistakes less often than electronic ones. However, such devices have a significant drawback - they are filled with toxic contents. If the mercury thermometer breaks, it can harm the health of all households. How to prevent negative consequences? How to collect mercury balls yourself? Read about this in our article.
The thermometer crashed - the first steps
Did you break the thermometer? Do not panic! You can collect mercury balls yourself without causing any harm to your health. BUT REMEMBER! If a thermometer with mercury breaks in the house, you are dealing with a toxic substance of the first hazard class.
The fact that mercury is an extremely dangerous substance is known to many, so it is not surprising that, having broken a thermometer in the house, a person panics and expects instant poisoning. Collecting mercury from a broken thermometer is not easy. It is especially difficult to do this in a hurry, hands shaking with fear.
Some go to the other extreme, and are too careless about what has happened: mercury is carelessly swept away with a broom into the trash can, while many tiny balls safely remain in the living room and poison the air with poisonous fumes for a long time.
The most important thing is to stay calm. Mercury is poisonous and its fumes can cause serious poisoning. To minimize harm, you need to pull yourself together and start acting based on the recommendations of specialists.
Is mercury from a broken thermometer dangerous:
Get all people out of the room
First, you need to remove all residents from the apartment in which the thermometer crashed. Pregnant women, children and the elderly are especially susceptible to the toxic effects of mercury. It is also better to take pets out of the room so that they themselves do not poison themselves and do not transfer microparticles of mercury on their paws to other places.
The danger is not the mercury balls themselves, but their vapors. The melting point of mercury is low, 38.83 ° C. Therefore, in the room where the thermometer crashed, it is necessary to reduce the temperature to a minimum if possible. If it's cool outside, open the windows immediately. If it's hot, turn on the air conditioner. Just do not allow a draft - because of it, mercury balls can fly around the room and break into smaller ones.
Preparing to collect mercury
Have you decided to take over the collection of mercury? Then you should take care of your own safety:
- put shoe covers or plastic bags on your feet;
- change into synthetic clothes (unlike natural materials, its fibers absorb less toxic fumes);
- protect your face with a mask, preferably with a wet layer of gauze (if you don't have a mask, use a towel or diaper);
- Put rubber gloves on your hands.
All clothing will have to be thrown away after cleaning. Therefore, choose things that you will not be sorry to say goodbye to.
To collect balls of mercury from a broken thermometer, you will also need:
- a couple of sheets of A4 paper and an envelope;
- soft brush or cotton pad;
- a glass container with a sealed lid filled with a potassium permanganate solution or plain water;
- rubber bulb or syringe;
- wet newspaper;
- rag;
- potassium permanganate solution;
- adhesive plaster or tape.
Close the doors tightly in other areas of the apartment - this will help minimize the penetration of mercury vapors into other rooms. A damp cloth should be placed under the door in an infected room.... This will contain the spread of toxic substances.
You can also call 01. The rescue service is unlikely to come because of a broken thermometer, but experts will give advice on what to do in such a situation.
For Moscow and Moscow region:
BROKEN A CENTROOM? PLEASE CONTACT THE MERCURY LIQUIDATION SERVICE ASAP!
+7 (499) 110-22-12 - HOT LINE HELP - 24 HOURS (MOSCOW + MO)
Experts will tell you how to act correctly and how not to get poisoned!
Our certified specialists, using only special equipment, will measure the concentration of mercury vapor in the air and determine the sources. All detected mercury is quickly eliminated during special demercurization measures.
We give guarantees for the performance of all work:
Free re-checkout and measurement of mercury vapors within 7 days!Accredited laboratory - State. license
Certificate No. RA RU 21EN01
Collection instructions for mercury
The mercury balls are collected as follows: they are rolled onto a sheet of paper or into an envelope with another sheet, a soft brush, or a cotton pad dipped in a solution of potassium permanganate. Small droplets of mercury can be removed with duct tape or a rubber bulb.
Examine carefully all surfaces and crevices in the room. To do this, it is better to illuminate them by placing the lamp at an angle to the floor. If drops of mercury get into the slots, remove them with a blower or syringe. If there are traces of mercury under the skirting board, remove it and remove the silvery balls.
If the thermometer breaks and mercury gets on the carpet, clothes, soft toys, upholstered furniture, it is almost impossible to clean it from mercury on your own. Better to say goodbye to these things - send them for recycling or burn them outside the city. Can't refuse them? Try leaving contaminated items outside for 2-3 months - for example, in the country. The sun's rays will help the mercury to evaporate and fade away.
It is strictly forbidden to use a vacuum cleaner and a broom to collect mercury... The air flow from the vacuum cleaner will only carry toxic particles around the apartment. The stiff bristles of the broom will crush the mercury balls. Dangerous microparticles will remain in the room and will continue to poison your household even after the aftermath of the “accident” is eliminated (it's like a time bomb).
If the process of collecting mercury takes a long time, go out to breathe clean air every 15 minutes. In cases where the temperature in the room cannot be reduced (it is hot summer outside the window), you should not stay in the contaminated room for more than 15 minutes continuously. In this case, of course, every time you leave the contaminated room, you must remove the shoe covers.
After watching this video, you will learn: what to do if the thermometer breaks? How to properly collect mercury? How not to get poisoned by mercury vapor? Where to call if the thermometer has broken? All questions will be answered by an expert of the independent environmental laboratory TESTECO - Alexander Kuksa:
How to clean up the room permanently?
When all the balls and droplets of mercury are eliminated, it is necessary to deal with the treatment of surfaces in the room. Prepare a disinfectant solution. Manganese (20 g of potassium permanganate per 10 liters of water) or soap and soda (40 g of soap and 50 g of soda per 1 liter of water) are suitable. If these ingredients are not available at home, use Whiteness.
With a washcloth or a brush dipped in a disinfecting solution, thoroughly wipe all surfaces in the room, and spray the cracks with a spray bottle.
Leave the windows open for a few more hours after surface treatment. Let the room be well ventilated. All this time, the doors to other rooms must be closed.
How to dispose of mercury?
Place the mercury, a broken thermometer with all the fragments, sheets of paper and adhesive tape in a jar with a manganese solution and close the lid. Put everything that was on you (clothes, shoe covers, mask) in a bag, tie it up. All of these things must not be thrown into the trash can or down the drain. They must be properly disposed of.
It is recommended that a broken thermometer with all mercury balls be handed over to the mercury collection and disposal service. Judging by the reviews, they do not always agree to accept waste, but you need to try to insist on your own. It is highly undesirable to throw away a broken thermometer with ordinary waste. It contains about 2 g of a toxic substance of the 1st hazard class. You can also contact a paid recycling point. True, such organizations do not function in all cities.
Items that have come into contact with mercury can be sent to landfill. They should be spoiled beforehand so that no one decides to pick them up.
What not to do if a thermometer breaks in the room?
- When airing the room, you cannot create a draft, because the smallest balls of mercury will scatter throughout the room, and you will not be able to detect them.
- You cannot use a regular broom. The coarse rods will shatter the mercury balls and lift them into the air, so you cannot remove them.
- Using a vacuum cleaner will actually spray the mercury all over the room. In addition, there will be a big problem with disinfecting this very useful household appliance, so you will most likely have to give it up.
- Do not wash things contaminated with mercury, as this will increase the contamination of the apartment with this substance (the washing machine and the sewer will suffer).
- Collected mercury should not be disposed of in a sewer, garbage chute or landfill.
Individual prevention
After complete disinfection of the room, you need to take care of yourself. After disposing of your clothes, go to the shower, change into a clean one, brush your teeth, and rinse your mouth and throat with a mild solution of baking soda or potassium permanganate.
Since most of the toxic substances are excreted through the kidneys, drink more liquid - tea, milk, juices.
When do you need to call specialists?
If the thermometer breaks in a small or unventilated room, it is not recommended to collect the mercury yourself. This can provoke severe poisoning. A mercury collection service must be called.
The boiling point of mercury is about forty degrees Celsius, so in cases where drops of mercury hit a hot surface (for example, on a heating radiator), evaporation will occur almost instantly.
If you suspect that you have not collected all the mercury balls, you need to call the sanitary and epidemiological station and arrange for disinfection. Another option is to conduct an independent environmental impact assessment of the apartment. Experts will measure the level of mercury in the apartment, and will also take a thermometer with them for disposal.
The expert also emphasizes: «If you are not sure that you have collected all the mercury balls, then you should call a specialist who will disinfect the room, on the website of the Center for Epidemiology and Hygiene of Moscow you can find out the number of the nearest sanitary and epidemiological station or contact any independent environmental expert to examine your house. Specialists will measure the level of mercury, as well as carry out professional demercurization of the mercury thermometer. Then they will make a control measurement of the level of mercury and take away from you a jar of collected mercury and contaminated items - all this will be disposed of.
Under any conditions, people from a high-risk group cannot independently clean up mercury from a broken thermometer. This category includes:
- pregnant women (mercury easily penetrates the placental barrier and can disrupt the development of the child);
- persons under the age of 18 and after 65 years of age (the body's threshold of sensitivity to mercury vapor is increased);
- patients with acute and chronic diseases of the urinary and central nervous system.
Memo (clickable):
What if you do get poisoned?
Experts remind that mercury can cause intoxication of the body. Therefore, after contact with this substance, you need to pay attention to symptoms such as:
- headache;
- general weakness;
- irritability;
- tremor;
- discoloration of urine;
- nausea;
- weight loss;
- metallic taste in the mouth.
Signs of mercury vapor poisoning appear within 8 hours. At risk are women and children. If you suspect mercury intoxication, you should immediately go to the hospital and get tested.
While many are accustomed to using mercury thermometers, they contain a potentially hazardous substance. Therefore, in 2014, Russia joined the international Minamata Convention. Its participants in 2020 will ban the production of thermometers and other devices with mercury, as well as their use in institutions.
How to handle a thermometer
It is necessary to follow the rules for storing and using a mercury thermometer. It is important to keep it in a special plastic case, shake it to bring down the temperature away from any objects that can break it. Keep the thermometer out of the reach of children. Only an adult can measure the temperature of a baby, so that by accident the child does not break the thermometer.
In order to protect yourself from unnecessary worries about possible infection, you can use an electronic thermometer instead of a mercury thermometer. By this criterion, it is much safer, but the measurement accuracy will differ slightly.
