Mercury spill. Help. Rules for working with mercury

Mercury spill

What should be done when a thermometer or other device containing mercury breaks? What instructions to follow if there was a mercury spill in the room? In this case, it is best to immediately call specialists from the city environmental service Expert Mercury. They will promptly take the necessary measures aimed at the complete elimination of the consequences of the incident, and make the premises safe for people to stay in it.

However, there are general rules for working with mercury, which are recommended to be followed before the arrival of specialists. If you follow all the precautions, the consequences will be minimal. It is very important to properly remove mercury.

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Basic rules for working with mercury

Working with mercury, if you do not follow certain rules, can end very badly. Probably, in every house there is an ordinary mercury thermometer, with which we measure body temperature. To avoid a spill of mercury, you need to store such a thermometer out of the reach of children.

Adults themselves must follow the rules for working with mercury and carefully use objects containing this liquid metal. Some household appliances, such as fluorescent lamps, can also be attributed to such items. Some mercury is also found in certain paints. If such a device breaks down or crashes, causing a mercury spill, you should immediately call in specialists – the city environmental service “Expert Mercury” will do an excellent job of eliminating the consequences of such an accident.

Mercury spilled – what should be done first?

First of all, you need to remember that working with mercury requires compliance with safety rules. Liquid metal is dangerous for its fumes, which quickly fill the room and penetrate the human respiratory tract. To prevent this, the rules for working with mercury must be strictly observed. If an accident has already occurred, the following steps must be taken immediately:

Remove all people and animals from the premises as quickly as possible, then close the front door so that mercury vapor does not spread throughout the house.
Lower the room temperature as much as possible and open windows to let the mercury vapor out.
Prevent further spillage of mercury by using wet newspapers – they need to cover the place with runaway liquid balls. Things that have come into contact with mercury must be collected and put in plastic bags, then taken out into the street or onto the balcony. All work should be done with rubber gloves so that the liquid metal does not come into contact with the skin..
If possible, collect the shiny balls of mercury scattered around the room using sticky tape, paper sheets or wet newspaper. The collected balls must be placed in a jar and filled with water, then closed with a tight-fitting lid. Take the container to the balcony before the arrival of experts from the city environmental service “Expert Mercury”.

It is necessary to ventilate the room in which the mercury spill occurred for at least 40 minutes. It is important to make sure that people do not spread liquid metal on the soles of their shoes throughout the building. Ideally, mercury removal should be left to professionals.

Expert opinion:

Persons who have constant industrial contact with mercury and its compounds need regular laboratory examination. The toxicity of this metal should not be underestimated. Accumulating in organs and tissues, mercury can lead to health problems, disability and death. Periodic delivery of urine and blood for analysis will allow you to track and prevent intoxication in time, and if the process of poisoning has already begun, start detoxification therapy. The collection of these biomaterials does not cause any discomfort, no special preparation is required.

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What is the danger of working with mercury

Many people treat common household appliances lightly, not realizing that working with mercury requires special treatment. Vapors of liquid metal are very toxic, and their entry into the human respiratory system can lead to severe poisoning. That is why it is so important to strictly follow the rules for working with mercury.

Getting into our body, harmful fumes of liquid metal affect the kidneys and liver, nervous system, gastrointestinal tract, and respiratory organs. There is only one way to get poisoned by mercury – by inhaling its toxic fumes. The problem is that such fumes have no smell, and you can inhale them without even knowing it. This means that work with mercury should be as careful as possible. If mercury is spilled in the house, you should immediately call the specialists of the city environmental service “Expert Mercury”. They will perform professional mercury removal in the shortest possible time.

Working with mercury – what else you need to know

Ideally, indoor mercury removal should be entrusted to professionals who have the specialized knowledge and skills to quickly eliminate the risk of contamination. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to immediately call professionals, and then you have to act on your own. If working with mercury has led to a small accident, do not panic. It is necessary to act methodically and harmoniously, exactly following the above instructions.

If mercury is spilled in the room, you can not collect it with a vacuum cleaner. An ordinary broom or brush is also not suitable for this purpose. It is strictly forbidden to throw the collected balls of liquid metal into the garbage chute, or pour them into the sewer – such actions will lead to extensive contamination of the entire building with harmful fumes, since traces of this harmful substance will remain in the most inaccessible places. Accurate work with mercury, in compliance with all precautions, is the main guarantee of safety. If it was not possible to protect yourself from spilling liquid metal, you should immediately call the specialists of the city environmental service “Expert Mercury”. They will completely clean the room from poisonous traces, using special tools and devices for this.