Don’t get poisoned: how to remove mercury if the thermometer breaks
Mercury scattered on the floor or carpet when a medical thermometer falls is a nuisance that almost everyone encounters. In such a situation, it is necessary to act quickly and decisively, since toxic metal fumes are extremely dangerous to human health. There are several secrets that will help you collect mercury from a broken thermometer without missing a single shiny ball.
What are the dangers of mercury?
In everyday life, mercury can get into the air in one way - from a broken thermometer. It is known that a home thermometer contains 1 g of liquid metal, and this amount is not capable of instantly causing poisoning. If the particles are fast, then you don’t have to think about the trouble.
It is dangerous when mercury gets on a fluffy rug, a toy, in the gap between parquet boards, or is carried by slippers throughout the house, that is, it remains undetected. The volatile compound, evaporating, will constantly poison the air and negatively affect people's health.
Mercury enters the body through the respiratory system and settles in vital organs. Acute poisoning is characterized by intestinal upset, vomiting, problems with the cardiac system, a metallic taste in the mouth, and mild irritability.
Symptoms of mercury poisoning only become noticeable after two to three months, so they are often confused with signs of ordinary fatigue or food poisoning.However, later serious diseases may appear: tuberculosis, atherosclerosis, hypertension, the liver and gallbladder are affected, and mental disorders occur.
How to quickly collect mercury from the floor?
If the thermometer breaks, you can remove the mercury as follows:
- Remove children and animals from the room, open the window and close the interior doors, limiting the location of the accident. This is necessary so that household members or furry pets do not accidentally drag mercury balls throughout the apartment with their feet.
- On the threshold you need to lay a rag soaked in a weak solution of potassium permanganate (2 g per 1 liter of water). When leaving the room, you should carefully wipe the soles of your slippers so that no metal particles accidentally remain on them.
- Hands must be protected with rubber gloves, and respiratory organs with a disposable mask.
- The remains of the broken thermometer are placed in a glass container with water or a solution of potassium permanganate.
- Now we need to collect the metal particles as carefully as possible. To do this, you can use paper, tape, adhesive tape, wet cotton wool, a drawing or shaving brush. The collected drops are shaken into a jar of liquid. A syringe or syringe with a thin tip will help you get mercury out of the cracks.
If collecting mercury balls takes too long, you need to go out into the fresh air every 15 minutes.
The jar with metal particles is sealed and taken out into the yard or onto the balcony.
Mercury on the carpet
The task of collecting mercury becomes significantly more difficult if the thermometer breaks on the carpet. It’s also good when the carpet has a fine pile and the balls are visible to the naked eye. In this case, it is enough to collect the metal particles with tape, a wet cotton pad or band-aid and throw them into a jar of water.
The situation is worse if mercury gets on a fluffy rug with long pile and the balls roll between the fibers. It is almost impossible to get them using the methods suggested above, so you will have to act differently:
- roll up the carpet, pulling the edges towards the middle;
- put the package in a plastic bag and take it outside, away from residential premises;
- Shake the carpet thoroughly and leave to air.
It is better if the rug hangs in the fresh air as long as possible. Only after 3-4 months will this product completely get rid of mercury dust and again become absolutely safe for human health.
What can't you do?
There are several strict prohibitions that you need to know and follow when cleaning mercury from the floor. Otherwise, all the efforts spent on eliminating the consequences will be in vain, and the area of pollution will only increase.
- When ventilating the room, avoid drafts. Otherwise, mercury balls may scatter throughout the apartment.
- You should not remove mercury with a vacuum cleaner. Particles settled in the filters and on the inner surface of the corrugated hose will poison the air for a long time. After such cleaning, the vacuum cleaner will either have to be treated with special means or sent to a landfill.
- It is not advisable to collect toxic metal with a broom. The rods will break the bulky balls into smaller ones, and the area of infection will only increase.
- If toxic metal gets on the upholstery of upholstered furniture, rolls into folds and cannot be detected, you must call a special service for disposal of mercury waste.
- Do not use a washing machine to clean clothes in which mercury has been collected. It is better to throw away such textiles immediately.
Under no circumstances should mercury beads be flushed down the toilet.Metal lingering on the surface of sewer pipes will constantly poison the air in the room.
What to do after removing mercury?
As soon as the mercury is collected from the floor, you need to disinfect the accident site and think about your own safety. After all, even short-term contact with a toxic substance can cause unpleasant consequences.
- To clean the place where mercury has been spilled, you need to prepare a solution of 5 liters of water and 10 g of potassium permanganate and rinse the floors well.
- After this, the surface of the floor covering is treated with a soap-soda solution, which is prepared as follows: rub laundry soap, add water and stir until completely dissolved. Then add water to 10 liters, add 100 g of soda. This solution not only washes floors, but also cleans shoes and gloves.
- After cleaning, it would be a good idea to brush your teeth, rinse your mouth, drink activated charcoal, and take plenty of fluids the next day.
Neither a broken thermometer, nor collected mercury, nor things that were cleaned should be thrown into the trash. All this must be disposed of in a special way. Therefore, the easiest way is to call the SES and call a specialist or take the waste there yourself.
The thermometer should be stored in a closed medicine cabinet, out of the reach of children. If the thermometer accidentally falls out of your hands and breaks, you must carefully collect the mercury and take it to the SES for disposal. In difficult cases, when it was not possible to detect mercury balls, you need to call specialists to your home.