A mercury thermometer was broken at home, what to do. Broken mercury thermometer

The advantage of a mercury thermometer is stable accuracy in measuring temperature. The main disadvantage of a thermometer is that it is easy to break. It only takes one awkward movement for the toxic silver balls to scatter around the room. To avoid mercury poisoning, collect the hazardous substance immediately.

Why is mercury dangerous?

Upon impact, the mercury is divided into small balls, which instantly roll around the room. Mercury droplets roll into the cracks of the plinth and floor, penetrate into the underground space and settle in the pile of the carpet. The toxic hazardous substance evaporates at 18°C, poisoning the indoor air.

Getting into the human body, mercury from a broken thermometer has a local irritant effect and causes internal poisoning of the kidneys, cardiovascular and central. Recommendations on what to do if a thermometer with mercury breaks will help to avoid intoxication.

What to do if the thermometer breaks

If you broke a mercury thermometer, it is important to properly demercurize. This includes the removal and disposal of mercury globules in the spill area. To remove toxic mercury balls yourself, you must perform the following steps:

Get people out of the room, close the door tightly and open the windows for ventilation.
Put on a respirator, rubber gloves and shoe covers.
Fill a glass jar halfway with water, put a mercury thermometer with the remaining mercury in it and tightly close the container with a lid.
Take a break every 15 minutes. Go outside and drink more cold water.
For 3 weeks, ventilate the room daily and disinfect the place where the mercury spilled.

How to remove mercury if the thermometer is broken?

Toxic mercury balls roll everywhere when dropped. More often they are concentrated in the cracks of the floor and walls, on the surface of the floor covering and on the carpet. To collect mercury, prepare:

medical cotton and plaster
thick sheet of paper or cardboard
glass jar with airtight lid
a medical syringe and a long knitting needle
solution of potassium permanganate and bleach
rubber gloves
disinfectants
flashlight and small pieces of cloth
plastic bags for collecting contaminated items.

It is necessary to limit as much as possible the area where the mercury thermometer crashed. Liquid mercury sticks to the soles of shoes and spreads around the apartment. Put on gloves and place the broken thermometer in a jar of water. Start collecting mercury balls, moving from the periphery of the affected area to the center.

How to collect mercury from a flat surface

Collecting toxic mercury droplets from a table or floor can be done in several ways:

With the help of a syringe, liquid balls are sucked up, after which mercury is placed in a glass jar.
Mercury is collected from the floor on a piece of paper or foil, helping with a brush.
Using paper napkins or sheets of newspaper moistened with sunflower oil or water.
Toxic droplets of mercury stick well to plaster or tape.
Mercury is collected with cotton swabs soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate.

After cleaning mercury particles 2-3 times, treat the room with bleach, manganese or soapy water. To wash the floor, use unnecessary shreds of cloth, as they will have to be thrown away. If the thermometer is broken in the kitchen, it is better to wash the kitchen utensils.

What to do if a thermometer crashes on a carpet or sofa

For processing not very fleecy surfaces, rugs, leatherette and leather sofas, the same tools are suitable as for cleaning mercury from the floor. It is more difficult to collect mercury balls that are inside the carpet with a long pile. Carpet cleaning steps:

Gather the edges of the carpet towards the middle so that the liquid metal does not leak onto the floor.
Put the carpet in a tight plastic bag and take it outside.
Lay an oilcloth or cellophane on the ground so that mercury does not get on the ground. Hang the carpet over the spread oilcloth.
Beat the mercury balls out of the carpet with smooth strokes. Collect mercury from oilcloth and place in a glass container.
Air the carpet for 3 months or hang it for a long time in the garage.

How to get mercury out of cracks

Collecting mercury from floor or wall crevices is a difficult but doable task. There are several ways to solve the problem:

Use a gypsy needle or a long knitting needle, on which you wind cotton wool moistened with water.
Pour sand into the crack and sweep it with a brush along with balls of mercury.

Is it possible to collect mercury balls with a magnet? Mercury is a liquid metal, so it is easily magnetized. During the procedure, wear thick rubber gloves. They must be removed so that the magnet with mercury balls stuck to it is inside the glove.

What not to do when collecting mercury

It is strictly forbidden to use a vacuum cleaner to collect mercury. The air heated by the vacuum cleaner accelerates the evaporation of the poisonous liquid metal. Mercury lingers on the parts of the device, making it a distributor of toxic fumes.

If a member of your family broke a home thermometer, you will have to collect drops of mercury from a broken thermometer yourself. To do everything right, you should look at the thematic photo and video. This will help protect loved ones from the effects of toxic mercury poisoning.

Discussion

The question is good. For the first time, I saw in the hospital how the thermometer broke and the mercury rolled into small beads on the floor. We collected them by rolling them with a napkin to each other to make a single ball. I was then about 10 years old. But in the end it turned out that it was impossible to do so! What had to be urgently reported to the medical post, because mercury is toxic and evaporates quickly, and we breathe it. I know for sure that you need to open the windows, put the bags on your feet, and in no case collect them with a broom, a vacuum cleaner, or a rag.

Comment on the article "How to properly remove mercury from a broken thermometer"

Ministry of Emergency Situations-sheep do not go to broken thermometers in Moscow. Therefore, I read with great surprise that they were leaving. Didn't find what you were looking for? See other discussions: How to properly remove mercury from a broken thermometer. So, where do you end up with mercury?

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BROKEN THE THERMOTER AND SPILL MERCURY If you break the thermometer and the mercury rolls on the table or floor, in no case try to wipe it with a rag - this will only smear the mercury and increase the evaporation surface.

Collect the mercury and throw the bag down the trash chute. The crumb of black bread can be collected. And with a vacuum cleaner, mercury is broken into small drops, in which the evaporation area is larger than that of one large one. Place all collected mercury in a jar and close it tightly.

Broken thermometer. How to proceed?. About his own, about a girl's. Discussion of questions about the life of a woman in the family, at work, relationships with men. Good time of day ... I found a broken thermometer at home - the body itself and a thin tube through which mercury rises.

Broken thermometer - what to do? Mercury fell quite compactly - on a blanket and on the floor (carpet). And in my childhood, my grandmother broke the thermometer, collected something in a scoop and a bucket, but what to do if the thermometer crashed. How to collect mercury from a broken thermometer?

Broken thermometer. How to remove mercury from a broken thermometer. Broken thermometer - what to do? Mercury fell quite compactly - on a blanket and on the floor. Recommendations on how to properly collect mercury from a broken thermometer will help to avoid intoxication.

This metal was not chosen by chance as the filler of the thermometer.

Firstly, already at -38.8 0 C, mercury passes into a liquid state. Secondly, it is very sensitive to temperature changes. Thirdly, the expansion of mercury occurs very uniformly, almost linearly. Fourthly, it does not stick to the glass of the tube into which it is sealed.

Vapors of liquid mercury are very toxic.

Such properties of mercury make temperature measurements as accurate as possible; neither alcohol nor helium thermometers can compete with mercury thermometers here. And that would be absolutely wonderful, you see. But everything spoils one weighty "but". Mercury (or rather, its vapor) is extremely toxic and dangerous. Accordingly, a broken thermometer has quite serious consequences.

A conventional thermometer contains up to 5 g of metal. Having broken free, under the influence of positive temperature in the apartment, mercury from a broken thermometer begins to evaporate intensively. In a few hours, the concentration of mercury vapor in a room of 15-18 m2 will exceed the maximum allowable values by 50 or even 100 times!

What does this mean for a person? Mercury acts on the nervous system. The primary symptoms of poisoning are nausea, headache, and a metallic taste in the mouth. If exposure to vapors continues (for example, not everything has been removed), then over time the heart rate will begin to fail, the eyelids and hands will tremble. The victim will be tormented by insomnia, stomach problems and bleeding gums. That's why a broken thermometer in an apartment is dangerous.

It should be borne in mind that symptoms of mercury poisoning may not appear for some time. Therefore, if you broke the thermometer, put it away, and after a few months began to notice the described health problems, please do not delay your visit to the doctor! Eliminating mercury from the body is not easy enough, and the sooner therapy begins, the less your body will suffer.

But, of course, the easiest way to avoid the hassle of mercury contamination in a room is to replace the old thermometer with an electronic one.

Symptoms and first aid for mercury poisoning

If, nevertheless, it happened that a mercury thermometer broke in your house, please note that it is strictly forbidden:

Start collecting mercury from a broken thermometer with a vacuum cleaner or a broom. You will break the tiny balls of mercury into even smaller ones, and then it will be completely impossible to remove them from the room. In addition, the operating vacuum cleaner heats up, which also stimulates evaporation. Well, the very last argument - both the broom and the vacuum cleaner will have to be disposed of.
Dispose of mercury in the garbage chute or down the drain. From the fact that you flush it in the toilet, it will not lose its poisonous properties. Only now the whole house will be at risk. The same goes for the garbage disposal.
Allow draft. From it, balls of mercury will probably scatter throughout the house, which will greatly complicate the task of collecting and neutralizing this substance.

Mercury Spill Precautions

What to do?

The mercury removal process has its own special name - demerculization. Why is that? Because in Latin mercury is called Mercury, after one of the ancient Roman gods.

To successfully combat mercury from a damaged thermometer at home, you will need:

medical pear
Sealed jar
Potassium permanganate
Wet wipes, or adhesive tape, or adhesive tape

It would be nice to have all this in a home medicine cabinet in advance, in case the mercury thermometer at home breaks.

Open the window, but at the same time eliminate the draft. This will help the mercury vapor not to concentrate in the room. And you, respectively, do not inhale them. Lay a rag moistened with a solution of potassium permanganate at the entrance to the room. So we prevent the spread of mercury on shoes.
Clear the contaminated premises from people, take away children, remove pets. Let them walk on a wet rag. Wipe the paws of the animals. Washing the paws of animals in the bathroom is now impossible. You run the risk of bringing mercury down the drain.
Close the door to the affected room tightly.
Carefully collect the pieces of the thermometer in the prepared jar. Place the collected balls of mercury there. A medical pear will help in their “capture”, you can also use adhesive plaster, wet wipes, adhesive tape - any sticky surfaces. Mercury balls adhere well.

Mercury should be collected from the corners and walls to the center of the room.

Keep in mind that removing the effects of a broken thermometer at home can take several hours.

Be sure to take a break every quarter of an hour! Go outside for fresh air, drink as much water as possible.

Congratulations, you've finally collected all the visible mercury! Now it is necessary to carry out chemical cleaning of the room. Rinse the walls and floor with any chlorine-containing products, after an hour, treat all surfaces again with soapy water. Repeat the procedure every 5-6 hours for at least 3 more days.

Instead of industrial detergents, you can use a 0.2% solution of potassium permanganate. This is approximately 20 g of powder per bucket of water. For a soap solution, it is enough to dilute liquid soap in water or dissolve household shavings.

Ventilate the "affected" room for another week.

Remember the brief instructions

If a thermometer with mercury breaks in the house, this is a serious emergency. In an ideal world, people who find themselves in the described situation call the Ministry of Emergencies. Specialists come from there and carry out all the necessary activities, incl. and demerculation of mercury if a mercury thermometer is broken.

In real life, each of us can be left alone with the problem of mercury in an apartment. Please note that simply throwing this substance into the trash is unacceptable. Yes, under the influence of oxidizing agents (such as oxygen in the air), mercury loses its deadly properties. But for this, time must pass, during which evaporation can cause irreparable harm.

Mercury in a hermetically sealed jar

If it was not possible to call the Ministry of Emergency Situations for help and hand over the collected mercury to them, leave it in an airtight container and take it or take it to a landfill, away from residential areas, water bodies and crowded places.

You will also have to part with everything that came into contact with mercury: gloves, clothes, a medical bulb, a rag that you put before entering the room - all this should be disposed of.

If the thermometer with mercury is broken in the apartment on the carpet, after collecting the mercury, thoroughly (but not for long, a minute or two) vacuum it, and dispose of the garbage bag along with the contents. Then you need to air the carpet from five days to a week.

Don't forget about yourself

Take a few tablets of activated charcoal, wash your hands thoroughly, brush your teeth, drink as much water as possible. And of course, watch for symptoms of mercury poisoning. Remember - promptly seeking medical help will save you from global health problems!

Well, now you know what to do if a mercury thermometer suddenly breaks in your apartment. And you can even impress your friends with the word “demerculization”. But still, we really want you not to have to put this knowledge into practice. Take care of yourself!

Despite the wide selection of thermometers - mercury, electronic and infrared, non-contact and contact, disposable and with interchangeable nozzles, many people prefer to use a traditional thermometer. The unreliable and fragile design of the case makes it easy to break the thermometer, which will inevitably lead to contamination of the room with toxic mercury. How to properly clean up if it crashed in a residential area?

If a person understands the danger posed by poisonous vapors, he will try to carefully collect droplets of the substance and take all necessary actions to protect himself and others. In extreme cases, he will invite specialists who will do this for a fee. But there is another way that most of our fellow citizens choose: to collect visible droplets of mercury, throw them in the trash or toilet bowl and no longer think about the thermometer and its contents.

Is it possible to poison the air in the whole apartment with one broken thermometer?

If the thermometer broke in the apartment and the visible balls were removed, less than 1 gram of mercury will evaporate in a few months (provided that the apartment is large and well ventilated) without causing significant harm to the health of the residents. However, with prolonged exposure to even relatively low concentrations (hundredths and thousandths of mg / m 3), signs of chronic poisoning appear. Fatal intoxication develops when 2.5 grams of mercury vapor is inhaled. With timely cleaning of the premises, the concentration of vapors in the internal air of the apartment drops by 5-10 times.

What not to do if the thermometer crashed

Quite often on the forum there are stories of those who tried to independently collect the mercury of a broken thermometer, even called the MSU and, in the end, were left alone with the spilled mercury. Here are their stories:

“My husband accidentally broke the thermometer, threw the mercury into the toilet, but naturally, it didn’t wash off anywhere, and floated on the bottom of the surface for several days.”

“I broke the thermometer, collected it in a jar and called the Ministry of Emergency Situations, they told me to throw the jar into the trash, and put a plate with iodine in the place where the mercury spread. Then a metallic sheen appeared on the surface of the iodine.”

“The thermometer broke on the TV remote control. A large drop was immediately rolled into a thermometer case with their hands, later they found another speck of dust, collected it on paper and threw it into the toilet. After reading horror stories on the Internet, they caught droplets from the toilet with a syringe, then they began to crawl across the floor looking for small particles with a flashlight. As a result, everything collected from the syringe spilled onto the floor (mercury, unlike water, does not hold in the syringe) and broke into tiny droplets. For half an hour they collected them with adhesive tape (without much success), wet rubber gloves (better). Cleaned floors with baking soda. A few more tiny droplets were found at the bottom of the bucket. The room was ventilated and went to bed there. I think that we didn’t really clean anything with a rag with a soap and soda solution, but rolled the mercury over the cracks in the floor between the tiles and the garbage.”

The vacuum cleaner won't help.

After such a procedure, a conventional vacuum cleaner can no longer be used for its intended purpose due to heavy pollution. Washing vacuum cleaners can be restored only after thorough washing with special solutions.

When collecting with a vacuum cleaner, the concentration of vapors increases sharply, and without protective equipment, you can get tangible poisoning.

We decided to collect mercury ourselves

It is useful to have a demercurization kit in your first-aid kit for neutralizing household mercury pollution. Such a kit will help eliminate pollution that occurs when a small amount of metallic mercury is spilled, when devices, devices and products are destroyed. Usually, detailed instructions are attached to the kit. The kit can be purchased at a pharmacy. If you decide to collect mercury yourself, you need to prepare for this process.

To collect you will need:

rubber seals;
table lamp with extension cord;
a jar with a tight lid filled with water (or a solution of 2 g of potassium permanganate per 1 liter of water);
ordinary brush;
rubber pear;
paper envelope or bag;
adhesive plaster;
wet newspapers;
rags (rags);
iodine solution.

It is forbidden

touch mercury with bare hands without rubber gloves;
throw away collected in the sewerage and garbage chute;
sweep mercury with a broom or use a vacuum cleaner;
create a draft when you ventilate the room;
wash clothes that may have come into contact with mercury, it is better to throw it away immediately.

Mercury collection should start with the largest droplets.

The first thing to do if a thermometer (fluorescent lamp, energy-saving light bulb) accidentally breaks in an apartment is not to panic. Pull yourself together and get ready to work.

It is necessary to limit the access of family members to the room where the device crashed (close the doors) in order to prevent the spread of mercury and the spread of vapors to adjacent rooms of the apartment.

Close the place where the mercury scattered with wet newspapers, lay a rug soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate at the entrance.

Open windows for access to fresh air and lowering the temperature in the room (the warmer it is in the apartment, the more actively the metal evaporates).

Conduct a thorough inspection of things and surfaces that could get drops of mercury. All contaminated items should be placed in plastic bags and taken out of the room.

You can collect drops of mercury with a rubber pear, a brush and thick paper sheets, previously folded on one side. To roll drops onto a sheet of paper, you can use a knitting needle or a thick needle. By moving a drop with a sheet of paper, it can be combined with other drops, and then one large drop can be transferred to a jar. To make the drops more visible, the surface where the mercury has spread should be illuminated from the side with a table lamp. Pieces of patch can also be used to collect the smallest droplets. Place the patch with adhered drops in a jar. You can try to get some drops from the cracks with a knitting needle, with a cotton swab wound around it moistened with a solution of potassium permanganate or a disinfectant. A swab with adhering drops is also placed in a jar. It is convenient to get mercury out of the cracks with a medical syringe with a thick needle. As soon as mercury has entered the syringe, it must be carefully poured into a jar. If there is a suspicion that she fell under the plinth, they should be removed without fail. The collection can take a long time, so every 10-20 minutes you should take breaks and go outside for fresh air. After the glass fragments from the thermometer and visible droplets of mercury are collected, the contaminated surface must be cleaned with a specially prepared solution.

In the future, daily wet cleaning of the premises is needed (washing the floor with a chlorine-containing preparation or a soap-soda solution (4% soap solution in a 5% aqueous soda solution)), regular and intensive ventilation.

Those who unsuccessfully tried to find out by phone at the Ministry of Emergency Situations where you can donate mercury from a broken thermometer are advised to bury the jar somewhere away from housing or leave it near the trash can. The best option is to hand over the jar with the collected mercury to representatives of the district department of civil defense and emergency situations, who are obliged to accept it and completely unreasonably refuse to do so.

Keep yourself safe

Once the mercury has been collected and disposed of, it is necessary to:

rinse gloves, shoes with a solution of potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate) and soap and soda solution;
rinse your mouth and throat with a slightly pink solution of potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate);
brush your teeth thoroughly;
take 2-3 tablets of activated charcoal.

Danger of poisoning

The most dangerous situations for human health are when mercury got on upholstered furniture, carpet, children's toys, clothes, rolled under the baseboard or in the cracks of the parquet; was not collected, and it was smashed on the soles of slippers throughout the apartment. Mercury is a substance of hazard class I (according to GOST 17.4.1.02-83), thiol poison. It is not mercury itself that is dangerous, but the compounds that it forms. When it enters the body in high concentrations, it has the ability to accumulate in the internal organs: kidneys, heart, brain.

The main symptoms of mercury poisoning (when it enters through the esophagus) are immediately visible - cyanosis of the face, shortness of breath, etc. In such a situation, you need to provide first aid - induce vomiting in the patient and call an ambulance as soon as possible. Mercury, which remains undetected, poses a serious danger, it then represents the greatest danger, since it enters the body by inhalation of vapors. Intoxication occurs mainly through the respiratory tract. When mercury vapor is inhaled, about 80% is retained in the body.

Acute poisoning with mercury salts is manifested in intestinal upset, vomiting, swelling of the gums, a decrease in cardiac activity, the pulse becomes rare and weak, fainting is possible. In chronic poisoning with mercury and its compounds, a metallic taste in the mouth, friability of the gums, severe salivation, slight excitability, and memory loss appear. The probability of such poisoning exists in all rooms where mercury is in contact with air. Particularly dangerous are the smallest drops of spilled mercury, clogged under baseboards, linoleum, in the cracks of the floor, in the pile of carpets and furniture upholstery. The total surface of small mercury balls is large, and evaporation is more intense. If the mercury balls are on underfloor heating, evaporation is greatly accelerated.

You probably didn’t guess, but mercury was used in ancient Egypt, vials of mercury served as an amulet. Moreover, they even tried to cure with this metal. When a person had a volvulus of the intestine, he was given a certain amount of this substance in order to restore order in the internal organs. Subsequently, this metal served medicine for a long time, mercury could be found in many medicinal products. But this happened until people realized that this is a toxic substance and it can be hazardous to health.

Mercury thermometers are still used today, as this substance is an excellent conductor of heat. But they have an unpleasant feature of breaking. And many people, if the thermometer crashed, do not know what to do. Some believe that the apocalypse has happened and it is urgent to call all kinds of services in order to eliminate the devastating consequences.

But do not panic if you accidentally break a mercury thermometer, you just need to know the information on what to do and how dangerous it is. This has happened in every home and will continue to happen. Moreover, in medical institutions, thermometers are broken all the time. Although the situation seems unpleasant, there is a way out of it. There is a clear action plan to address the consequences.

You must know how to collect mercury if a thermometer breaks at home and eliminate this unpleasant consequence. In addition, you should acquaint your household with what to do if the thermometer breaks. Children should understand that it is impossible to hide the fact that they broke the thermometer, as this is fraught with unpleasant consequences. They are obliged to tell about it immediately, and if there are no adults nearby, it is advisable to call the rescue service.

What can a broken thermometer lead to?

At the very end of the device for measuring body temperature, there are mercury balls that are not dangerous to our body until they start to emit steam. And if mercury vapor enters the lungs, then a person can become seriously ill. Mercury balls are too small, they can easily roll into the gap, hide from the eyes.

If the balls of mercury are not removed, then a person can be poisoned only by inhaling the air in this room. After a while, the balls will begin to evaporate and will poison the lungs. And given that evaporation occurs at 18 degrees, you can imagine how quickly this process occurs.

In large quantities, this substance penetrates through the lungs, skin pores or mucous membranes. After some time, the central nervous system is damaged, the kidneys begin to fail, the gums collapse. As a result, this leads to other dangerous changes in the body.

A dangerous dose when a person dies is 2.5 mg. But do not worry, the thermometer is too small to cause great harm to the body. However, doing nothing when it gets damaged can really have huge repercussions. The mercury ball is very small, it weighs only two grams.

But even one gram will create a concentration in the room above any norm and vapor poisoning occurs immediately. However, this does not mean that you have to leave the apartment, but you should not leave it all like that. You just need to know how to collect mercury from a broken thermometer.

Mercury overdose symptoms

When a person is exposed to mercury for a long time, even if it is small, he develops chronic diseases. There are many diseases of the central nervous system, accompanied by insomnia, nervous disorders, depression. At the same time, hands often tremble, pneumonia develops. Kidneys, liver, heart are also malfunctioning.

In no case should children and pregnant women be in such a room, they are the most vulnerable and can suffer the most. Pregnant women risk the health of their unborn child. In women of childbearing age, the menstrual cycle is disrupted.

Prolonged poisoning with mercury vapor will have irreversible consequences. A person will most likely have huge problems with memory, his performance will decrease significantly, since it will be difficult for him to concentrate. Hypertension, psychosis, tuberculosis can affect him.

To understand that you have had mercury poisoning, staining of the mucous membranes of the mouth in red will help you. The taste of metal appears in the mouth. With severe intoxication, nausea, vomiting, severe, unbearable pain in the stomach occurs. Body temperature can rise to 39 degrees.

Children react to poisoning with the appearance of diarrhea with blood. Their urine becomes cloudy. The gums swell and bleed.

A person who has been severely poisoned by mercury feels intense fear, his whole body trembles, convulses. He has a severe headache, it is difficult for him to swallow. When the body is affected by a large amount of mercury, then death is immediate.

How to collect mercury from a broken thermometer

If a mercury thermometer breaks, it can be difficult for some people to remember what to do. If you find it difficult, then call the special services, you should know their numbers in advance. They are always ready to provide their assistance in this case and describe in detail how to collect mercury from a thermometer. Then you need to ask everyone in the household to leave and take your pets with you.

After that, you can take measures to remove the harmful substance. For example, if a thermometer crashed at home, what to do:

Prepare water, add potassium permanganate there, if not, then a small amount of soap and soda;
Take a container of water of a fairly large size;
Prepare paper, a syringe, cotton swabs, a knitting needle, any adhesive tape, a small light source, you can use a flashlight;
Put on shoes that you can then throw away;
Make a gauze or cloth bandage to protect the respiratory organs;
Protect your hands with gloves, preferably rubber medical;
Wet a piece of cloth in a potassium permanganate solution, put it on the floor near the door;
Open the window in the room, but keep the front door closed;
Carefully remove the fragments of the thermometer, trying not to make unnecessary movements;
Collect balls of mercury on a piece of paper and cotton wool, lower them into a jar of water;
Apply duct tape to the floor to collect any small particles that may be accidentally left behind. Then the adhesive tape should be placed in a jar of water;
Using bright light from a light source, inspect the entire surface of the floor, all the cracks. If there are metal balls left, then you will see them immediately, as they shine with metal. Try to pull them out with a knitting needle if they rolled into the slot and take them into the syringe;
If you suspect that mercury has got under the baseboard, then it will have to be broken in order to collect everything that could have got there;
The jar where you put the mercury should be well closed;
Wash the floor with a solution of potassium permanganate or with soap and soda;
Take off your mask, gloves, outerwear, put it in a plastic bag;
Call the number of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and ask how to get rid of everything that has come into contact with harmful substances;
Wash thoroughly in the shower, do not forget to rinse your mouth. You can use any disinfectant solution. Also take two tablets of activated charcoal to avoid poisoning the body. Mercury will be excreted from the body after some time with urine and therefore it is worth helping him. The use of diuretics will help to remove this harmful substance in a short time.

All actions to collect mercury from a broken thermometer must be quick. This should not take you several days. It is better not to live for some time in the room where the thermometer broke. Washing floor surfaces with water is mandatory, make a solution with the addition of disinfectants. We can use chlorine. Open the window from time to time to clear the air. Avoid drafts.

If you suspect that you have not removed all the mercury balls, call the sanitation service to come and check the room with special devices.

Undesirable actions in the disposal of mercury

In no case should a broken thermometer be thrown into a trash can or garbage chute. Even if mercury has not leaked out of the thermometer, it should still be disposed of in a special place.

Keep the jar in which you put the fragments of the thermometer and mercury balls with you until a specialized organization picks it up. She must destroy such things.

Do not attempt to clean up mercury dropouts with normal household cleaning products. Neither a broom nor a vacuum cleaner is suitable in this case.

Clothes and slippers that you were wearing during your self-disposal of mercury should also be handed over to a sanitary organization; you should not wash them yourself.

Drafts after disposal of mercury in the room are unacceptable.

What you must know

If you feel sorry for throwing away clothes for recycling because they are expensive, you can air them out on the street. Try to hang clothes away from people, you can use an attic or a barn for this purpose. Clothing should be outdoors for at least 3 months, and then it must be washed several times, adding soap and soda to the water.

When the balls of mercury are on the carpet, their removal becomes more difficult. The carpet will most likely have to be recycled. But if you are unable to part with something dear to you, then you can place the carpet outdoors for a few days. After that, give the carpet to the dry cleaner.

Sometimes mercury gets on other things - furniture. In this case, it is better to remove it for a while. Support furniture in a country house or garage where it will weather. After 3 months you can take her back home.

When the thermometer broke at home and the mercury balls got into the heater, the matter here becomes much more complicated. Mercury will definitely boil and its vapors will poison the air in the room. You can not try to get rid of the consequences yourself. In this situation, only a tight closing of the door and a call to the rescue service will save.

Women who are expecting the birth of a child, children and the elderly should in no case be in the room where the thermometer has broken.

It often happens that a child swallows mercury balls. It is necessary to call the ambulance number so that they examine it and eliminate the danger. Under such a combination of circumstances, the child is unlikely to be poisoned, but fragments of a thermometer, which can also accidentally get inside along with mercury balls, can damage the LCD.

If you find out that one of your household has removed the mercury balls with a vacuum cleaner, then get rid of this device. Otherwise, mercury will spread indoors through the filters of the vacuum cleaner and poison the human body. The hose from the vacuum cleaner, the bag is scrapped, the rest of the parts can be weathered and then reused.

Some people unknowingly wash mercury balls down the drain. In this case, you should check the knees to see if they are stuck there. If this did not happen, then they are most likely not worth it, since the sewage has already washed it away. But if you find balls in your knees, then put them in a jar of potassium permanganate solution and hand them over to a sanitary organization.

How to handle a mercury thermometer

You should always remember what consequences a broken thermometer can lead to and handle it carefully.
Never keep it in a place where small children can reach it.
When measuring temperature, it should be tightly pressed against the body.

When you try to remove the reading, then shake it in a free space where nothing interferes.
Keep the thermometer in a hard case.

To save yourself from severe anxiety, you should purchase an electronic thermometer. At least you will not be afraid for the health of your household and your own.