How to clean the broken mercury thermometer so as not to be poisoned

Mercury thermometer is the most popular medical item in the home today. Mercury thermometer helps to monitor the air temperature or body temperature. Little is known that mercury is a liquid at room temperature but it evaporates easily and turns into an odorless substance. Mercury vapor is very toxic if you inhale it. There have been cases where babies became sick after inhaling mercury vapor from a broken thermometer. The following shares will guide you in dealing with a mercury thermometer breakage.

What you absolutely should not do when mercury is released

You should not use a vacuum cleaner as it will easily release mercury into the air and increase exposure. If mercury breaks into small particles and spreads around, you should use a brush to remove them. In particular, you must not pour mercury into the drain. This can damage the plumbing and pollute the water supply. If your clothes are contaminated with mercury, you should keep them separate from other clothes, limiting the spread of mercury.

Items needed for mercury cleanup and how to remove it

You need to prepare:

4-5 zip lock bags;

Garbage bag (2-6 mm thick);

Latex or latex gloves;

Tissue;

Cardboard or rubber brush;

Drip straw;

Shaving tape or cream and small brush;

Flashlight;

Sulfur powder (optional).

First and foremost, put on gloves. If any broken glass remains on the floor, put them in a tissue and roll the tissue over, then place it in a zip lock bag. Please carefully lock the bag and make a note on it to separate the garbage.

Use a rubber broom or cardboard pad to pick up any mercury droplets that are still on the floor that you can see. To make sure not to pick up, you should use an extra flashlight, survey the floor for the mercury residue that you cannot see. Note that the mercury droplets can roll very far away from their original location, so don't just look around in a small area.

You should use a dropper to suck mercury particles, but absolutely should not touch them directly. Then, slowly pour the mercury particles into a wet cloth, fold them and place them in the zip lock bag. Make sure to make a note on the zip lock bag. After you have removed the large particles, be sure to apply shaving cream on a brush or use duct tape to gently dab the affected area to pick up smaller and less visible particles. Similar to the above, once done, put the above items in the zip lock bag and put a note on the bag. You can use more sulfur powder to absorb small drops of mercury. Sulfur has two effects in making mercury particles more visible because the mercury makes the powder change its color from yellow to brown and when the sulfur binds to the mercury, it makes it easy to clean.

Finally, be sure to keep the area around the break free by opening windows and fans for at least 24 hours after cleaning. If your family has children and pets, keep babies and pets away from the area where the thermometer broke.

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