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What to do if the thermometer breaks? Video
What if you accidentally break a mercury thermometer? After all, mercury vapors are extremely dangerous for the human body and their inhalation can lead to very serious consequences. What are the rules for the first response when mercury enters the atmosphere of the room?
If the glass thermometer breaks and mercury has leaked out, immediately remove everyone from the affected area. Mercury quickly turns into a gas state, so you need to fully open all windows and close the door to the room where it is located. Cover the mercury balls with wet newspaper and tape the door slits with duct tape. After isolating the source of contamination, continue ventilating the apartment for at least another half hour.
Be sure to drink plenty of water in the first few days, which can significantly reduce the risk of mercury vapor poisoning.
If you choose to collect the mercury yourself, protect your respiratory tract first. For this, use a wet gauze folded in several layers, or a wet towel. You need to remove the substance with a soft brush – gently drive the balls of mercury onto a sheet of white paper to see the result. After collecting the mercury, pack the sheet with it, the broken thermometer and the brush in a plastic bag or glass jar, seal the vessel tightly and hand it over to professionals.
If you don’t have a brush on hand, use a rubber bulb, cotton swabs dipped in potassium permanganate, or tape. After cleaning, rinse the floor in the room with a solution of chloramine or bleach. You can also use a soap and soda solution, made with 40 grams of shabby soap and 30 grams of regular baking soda.
Do not use your home vacuum cleaner when collecting mercury! This will increase the concentration of mercury vapor in the room and permanently damage the device.
If you have collected the mercury in a glass jar, fill the container with a potassium permanganate solution or cold water, which will prevent the substance from evaporating. Never place the jar next to a hot battery.
If you are in doubt about your ability to deal with the pollution, urgently call an expert team, which usually arrives on site within twenty minutes. The service dispatcher will certainly determine the time it will take for specialists to get to their destination.
A team of professionals who came to the call will remove the mercury and assess the level of contamination. The experts will also indicate the time required for the complete weathering of mercury vapor from the room.
Be prepared for the fact that you will have to live in another apartment for some time, waiting for the atmosphere in your house to clear up
In addition, you will need to part with some household items that may have been exposed to mercury, since items contaminated with this chemical cannot be cleaned.
Since children, retirees and people with weak immunity are most susceptible to harmful mercury fumes, it is advisable to make an appointment with a doctor who will rule out mercury poisoning.
To prevent poisoning, it is necessary to consume abundantly liquid and fruits, which will help to quickly remove the poisonous substance from the body. If you notice any of the following symptoms, see your doctor immediately or call an ambulance.
Symptoms of mercury poisoning include: – nausea; – vomiting; – drowsiness; – headache; – allergic reactions.
Ignoring these symptoms can lead to severe kidney damage, neurosis and other serious diseases caused by chronic mercury vapor poisoning. If you yourself removed mercury from a broken thermometer, immediately after cleaning, take a shower, rinse your mouth with potassium permanganate (0,025% solution), thoroughly brush your teeth and completely change your clothes. Put the clothes in which you collected the mercury in a bag and discard.
What should not be done when mercury is leaking out?
Never throw a broken thermometer into a garbage chute or street trash bin – mercury will actively evaporate, which will lead to pollution of the surrounding atmosphere. Hand over the mercury balls and the thermometer itself exclusively to special demercurization services.
If the thermometer breaks
If it is windy outside, do not open the windows until the mercury is completely removed from the floor – a draft can scatter light mercury balls along the farthest corners of the room, which will greatly complicate the process of cleaning it.
Also, you cannot sweep the balls with a broom, since its rods will grind the mercury into even more dangerous mercury dust.
Do not try to wash clothes in which you removed mercury with a washing machine. The same applies to shoes – throw everything away without regret, health is more expensive. The collected mercury is strictly forbidden to be flushed down the toilet, since it will settle in the sewer pipes and it will be almost impossible to remove it from there.
Also remember that mercury is found not only in glass thermometers – its compounds can be found in batteries, fluorescent lamps and even in certain paints, so contact with these objects with extreme caution.
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