I broke a mercury thermometer what to do. If the thermometer is broken. Why you should contact the experts, or what could be the unpleasant consequences if a mercury thermometer breaks at home

Greetings, my dears! You seem to be in trouble - the thermometer in the apartment crashed, what should I do? The first question is how to collect mercury, and what could be the consequences. Calm, I have collected all the most important in one article. I will offer you clear step by step algorithm actions, which you can even print out just in case.

And you know, having wandered through the forums at one time, I was convinced that almost every person at least once in his life broke a thermometer. What stories about broken thermometers I have not read! And I will share some today. May they reassure you and confirm that you are not alone...

Well, let's start - because now it is important for you to receive instructions for action as soon as possible ...

What to do if the thermometer in the apartment crashed, what to do and what not to do? Where to call, who to contact? Calm, now we will solve all these issues.

I will say right away: if your city has a special service for the disposal of mercury, call them and do not bother! Professionals will check the level of air pollution, with the help of special devices they will find all the rolled balls and treat the surfaces with a special demercurization solution.

After that, the environmental safety of your home will be restored. This is especially true if you have not found mercury. Or mercury leaked out on a fleecy surface: on a sofa, on a carpet.

The backup option is a call to the Ministry of Emergency Situations on a single number 112. They are also engaged in the neutralization of mercury, however, not as willingly as private firms. The brigade may not come to you. The duty officer will simply advise you on how to properly collect mercury from the floor.

And then the rescuers will call in and take away the collected balls and everything that came into contact with them. Not immediately, but during the day, when there is time. In this case, you will have to handle all surfaces yourself.

The third option is to act completely independently. That is why I am writing this article to help you. And if you decide to fight pollution alone, let's look further.

Mercury is an incredibly mobile liquid substance that turns into vapor at 18 degrees. Therefore, when a thermometer breaks, mercury appears simultaneously on three "floors" of your living space:

• in the air,
• on furniture and on the floor,
• in slots below floor level.

And all these levels need to be cleared!!!

The main danger is mercury vapor. It is through the lungs that the poison most easily enters the body. Skin is also permeable to mercury. But through the stomach and intestines, this poison is practically not absorbed.

I came across a lot of stories about how someone's child / nephew / acquaintance swallowed a ball of mercury in childhood - and nothing, he is still alive! For me, it's still creepy, because this substance is not excreted from the body. Such stories are usually cited as evidence that there is nothing dangerous in a broken thermometer. But now you know that it is not. Just mercury enters the body in a different way.

How to collect mercury if the thermometer crashed

And now, step by step, we will demercurize the house on our own.

Step 1. Make sure that mercury does not spread around the apartment. Close the door in the room where the thermometer broke. Open a window there. In other rooms, do not open the windows yet, so that mercury vapor is not pulled out there. Place a wet rag around the mercury spill.

Step 2. Protect yourself and loved ones. Take the children out of the room where the mercury spilled. It's best to take them for a walk. Take care of yourself at the same time. You will need:

• gloves,
• mask,
• shoe covers.

Instead of a mask, a piece of gauze folded several times, or a scarf, will do. Moisten this bandage with water so that it protective properties will intensify. Shoe covers can be replaced with two ordinary plastic bags.

Step 3 Collect mercury. Arm yourself with a jar with a lid. Pour some water into it so that the mercury does not evaporate.

Forget about the broom, rags and vacuum cleaner. The broom will break large drops of mercury into microdroplets, which, like cockroaches, will spread through all the cracks. The rag will do the same. And the vacuum cleaner will generally convert the swallowed mercury into steam and disperse it throughout the house ...

To collect mercury at home will help:

• Two sheets of paper - carefully drive small droplets into a large one with an edge and send it to a jar.
• Wet cotton, newspaper or napkin.
• Tassel.
• Syringe or syringe - they draw mercury well from the cracks.
• Everything is sticky. Plasticine, adhesive tape, adhesive plaster, bread crumb are suitable here. The point is to stick them on small balls of mercury and throw them away. Just need to glue several times in the same place.

Well, how did everything work out? You are just great! But it's too early to relax.

Step 4. Treat the surface.

To neutralize the remaining mercury, you need to convert it into a non-volatile compound. I will list you several ways to process surfaces, and you choose.

1. Potassium permanganate. It is necessary to make a dark, almost opaque solution. Add a spoon per liter of solution table salt and a tablespoon of 9% vinegar or a pinch of citric acid. Spray the solution and leave to dry for 6-8 hours. Then rinse the surface soapy soda solution(liter of water, 40 g of soda and 40 g of soap). Repeat this washing every day for several days, with the difference that it will be possible to wash off the potassium permanganate in an hour.
2. "White". Cooking strong solution: for 8 liters of water, a liter of "Whiteness". We wash the surface with this solution and leave for 15 minutes. Wash off with a solution of potassium permanganate (1 gram of powder per 8 liters of water). For the next few days, simply wash the floors with any chlorine solution. Domestos, for example.
3. Soap-soda solution: 1 liter of water 50 g baking soda and 50 g laundry soap. This option is suitable if there is nothing at hand, but chlorine and potassium permanganate are still better.

I remember the story of one mother-chemist. When her baby broke the thermometer, she took advantage of her knowledge and ... covered the entire corridor with sulfur powder. She knew that sulfur combines with mercury and neutralizes it.

So take note of this option. Suddenly come in handy.

And we have very little left.

Step 5. Throw away everything that came into contact with mercury.

Yes Yes. In this case, "all" means exactly ALL. Not only balls of mercury in a jar of water, gloves, a brush, paper, a rag, a syringe and a douche. But also:

• Chlorine solution with which you washed the floor.
• All clothing and footwear contaminated with mercury.
• Vacuum cleaner, if you managed to collect the remains of a broken thermometer with it.
• A washing machine if you accidentally wash mercury-contaminated clothing in it...

The list will have to be continued according to the circumstances. Both carpet and upholstered furniture that cannot be processed will fall into it. If they are very dear to you, call a special dry cleaner.

Perhaps many of you, reading this paragraph, twisted your finger at your temple ... Well, it's up to you. I will only tell one story.

The husband of one of the women broke the thermometer and collected the mercury with a vacuum cleaner. When she hinted that the vacuum cleaner was now dangerous to health, her husband waved her off. But the wife was stubborn and called the experts. They took measurements, and it turned out that the mercury contamination of the carpet exceeds the permissible level by 700 times! After that, both the carpet and the vacuum cleaner were thrown away.

What to do with a broken thermometer

When everything is already behind, the house is clean and calm, the question arises, where to put the mercury and everything that came into contact with it? Where to dispose of a broken thermometer? There are only two options here:

• Call the Ministry of Emergency Situations
• Transfer to the specialists of the demercurization service.

And that's it! Because from the garbage chute, mercury will spread throughout the house. At the same time, 2 grams of mercury from one thermometer can poison 6,000 cubic meters of air. And in the sewer, mercury balls are "soldered" to pipes and for many years can gradually "etch" the water and air in your home.

And if the glass is intact, the mercury has not leaked out, and the thermometer just crashed inside? And in this case, it should be handed over to the Ministry of Emergency Situations or to a special reception point.

The thermometer in the apartment crashed consequences

When the thermometer crashed in the apartment, the consequences may not appear immediately. This was the reason for the talk about the "safety" of broken mercury thermometers.

In one children's polyclinic, the floors were somehow re-laid. When the boards were lifted, the space under the floor was literally littered with mercury balls. So many thermometers were broken in the office during the years of admission! And no one knew about it for the time being.

So is it dangerous to ignore a broken thermometer?

Yes, it's dangerous. The symptoms of mercury poisoning are so non-specific that they can simply not be associated with a trouble that happened a few weeks ago. Insomnia, fatigue, headaches, nervousness, low blood pressure, poor appetite… That's not fatal. But the work of some systems in the body - endocrine, and cardiovascular - can also be disrupted.

Tell me, do you want to feel bad about the fact that the body is fighting poison? And if a pregnant woman inhales mercury, it can affect the baby. So it's not worth the risk!

You may be wondering how much mercury weathers. It depends on how you weather it. It is most reasonable to open the windows after processing and arrange a draft for several hours. But only after the completion of all measures. After that, you can be calm.

I'm proud of you dear ones. You did it. And I, as always, cannot leave you without a reward. And as a bonus, I prepared a little reminder for you. It can be printed and pasted. For example, on the lid of a first-aid kit. Or on the inside of a cabinet door. In general, wherever you want, as long as it catches your eye in time ...

And I say goodbye to you. Now you know what to do if the thermometer crashed in the apartment, how to collect mercury and where to put it. Be healthy! And look again, I have a lot of useful things here.

See you soon, Anastasia Smolinets

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.

AT 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 acceptable indicators 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, the taste of metal in the mouth. If exposure to vapor continues (for example, not everything was removed), then over time it will begin to fail heartbeat, tremble eyelids and hands. 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 in your house it crashed mercury thermometer Please note that in this case it is strictly prohibited:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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 advance home first aid kit, in case the mercury thermometer at home broke.

1. 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.
2. Clear the contaminated premises from people, take away children, remove pets. Let them pass through 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.
3. Close the door to the affected room tightly.
4. 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! Come out on Fresh air drink as much as you can more water.

1. 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.

1. 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.

AT real life each of us can be left alone with the problem of mercury in the 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 for help from the Ministry of Emergency Situations 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 some pills activated carbon, wash your hands thoroughly, brush your teeth, drink as much water as possible. And of course, watch for symptoms of mercury poisoning. Remember - a quick call for medical care 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!

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Many people still have a mercury thermometer in their homes - it shows much more accurately and never lies. Everything would be fine, only the fear of breaking the thermometer haunts, you just have to pick it up. However, there is nothing terrible in this, it is only important to follow a few rules.

We are in website with the help of specialists from the Ministry of Emergency Situations, we figured out what should never be done if the thermometer crashed, and what is absolutely necessary.

What to do is strictly prohibited

1. Leave children and pets in the room. Mercury easily sticks to soles or wool, so it's not worth the risk.
2. Collect mercury with a vacuum cleaner. First, hot air will accelerate its evaporation. Secondly, mercury particles will settle on the insides of the vacuum cleaner, it will turn into a hotbed of toxic substances.
3. Sweep mercury. The stiff bristles of a broom or brush will break up the mercury into small, barely noticeable droplets.
4. Use a rag. She will rub mercury on the floor, increasing the area of ​​\u200b\u200bdamage.
5. Flush down the drain / throw in the trash. Mercury will not reach the treatment plant, but will settle on the pipes, poisoning everyone around. The same thing will happen if you throw it in the garbage chute or in the trash.
6. Set up a draft. Vapors of mercury will scatter throughout the living space.
7. Trying to save clothing that has been contaminated with mercury. The metal will fall into the sewer or the drum of the washing machine. Dispose of your clothing along with the collected mercury.

What to do if the thermometer breaks

Most the main rule is not to panic. A broken thermometer is not a fatal outcome, and you won't have to move. Officially, the process of collecting mercury is called demercurization - everything is serious, but not at all scary.

1. Remove from room all outsiders and turn off everything raises the air temperature. You can open the window, but it is important to ensure that in no case there is a draft.
2. Change into clothes you don't mind throwing away. Give preference to materials that do not absorb anything. Put on hands rubber gloves, on the face - tissue bandage, on the feet - shoe covers.
3. Prepare a container with a solution of chlorine-containing bleach "Whiteness" (at the rate of 1 liter of "Whiteness" per 5 liters of water) or a solution of potassium permanganate (1 g per 8 liters of water), if you have the opportunity to get it.
4. Take wet brush, syringe with a thin needle, thick cardboard,adhesive plaster and capacity with water or solution from point 3 with a lid. Draw medium and small balls into a syringe, roll large ones with a brush onto a cardboard box and pour into a jar. Remove the smallest with a plaster, gently sticking them to the surface. Collection of drops - from the periphery to the center of the room.
5. Take torch- mercury reflects well. Use it to find the remaining balls and remove them. It is best to roll them out of the cracks metal needle. Tear off the skirting board and also pack it in a tight bag to be disposed of later.
6. All things that have come into contact with metal, collect in a bag and tie tightly. Close the jar with the collected mercury and the remains of the thermometer tightly.
7. Wipe all surfaces that have been in contact with mercury with a solution of "Whiteness" and soak for 15 minutes, then rinse clean water. For more complete demercurization, you can then treat them with a solution of potassium permanganate (if any).
8. Call the Ministry of Emergency Situations by phone 112 and ask about the nearest possible disposal of mercury.
9. Wash thoroughly, rinse several times oral cavity soda solution and take some pills activated carbon for disinfection. Close the room where the thermometer was broken from visits for a week, leaving one window open. Regularly disinfect the floor in it with a solution of "Whiteness". And drink more fluids.

• ! If mercury has got on the fabric surface or where it is impossible to collect it, then in such cases it will not be possible to do without the help of specialists.

Why is mercury dangerous?

Mercury belongs to the 1st hazard class, representing a cumulative poison, and it is the only metal that is in liquid form at room temperature. In the open air, mercury begins to evaporate, which makes the thermometer a rather dangerous thing.

Mercury poisoning symptoms:

• metallic taste in the mouth;
• general weakness;
• lack of appetite;
• headache and discomfort when swallowing;
• nausea and vomiting.

In the absence of assistance to the victim, the symptoms are aggravated:

• bleeding gums;
• stomach ache;
• liquid stool with mucous and blood inclusions;
• sharp rise body temperature, sometimes up to 40 ° C.

Such signs are a reason for immediate hospitalization. Contact with mercury is especially harmful for children and pregnant women, as this can lead to irreparable damage.

The first aid that can be provided for mercury poisoning is the intake of absorbents and a large number ordinary water.

Who has not encountered such a situation: they measured the temperature, an awkward movement, and a mercury thermometer slipped out of their hands and broke. What to do? Now they are trying to replace mercury thermometers with electronic ones. But still, many of them have survived and continue to use them.

The situation is unpleasant, to some extent dangerous. You probably know about harmful influence mercury vapor on the body and that they can be poisoned. But if mercury residues are removed from the room in a timely manner, the possibility of poisoning with mercury vapor will be minimal, or even disappear altogether. If the consequences of the “catastrophe” were completely and timely removed, then this situation can be forgotten. For information: one medical thermometer contains no more than 1 gram of mercury (in imported ones - up to 2 grams). And this is not the volume that can cause acute mercury vapor poisoning.

But nevertheless, poisoning can occur if you do not notice the remaining or do not remove the remaining mercury at all, if the room is warm and the room is not ventilated. Mercury is a metal, a thiol poison. Belongs to the 1st hazard class. AT normal conditions is a liquid with an evaporation temperature of +18º C. Mercury vapor is especially dangerous.

Mercury vapor easily spreads in indoor air over considerable distances, and easily passes through porous bodies. Pure mercury is easily crushed, 5 grams of mercury with a ball diameter of 0.1 mm give a surface of 1.5 m 2. The concentration of mercury vapor depends on the air temperature, the distance from the evaporating surface, the evaporation area, air mobility, and the purity of mercury.

The action on the body is local irritant (on contact with the skin), enterotoxic (when eating contaminated food), neurotoxic (when inhaled vapors). Mercury can enter the human body by inhalation of vapors through the lungs, with food into the gastrointestinal tract, by contact with skin. When vapors are inhaled, more than 75% of mercury is absorbed. AT gastrointestinal tract metallic mercury is not absorbed. Through intact skin, 2-5% is absorbed. Mercury is excreted through the kidneys and gastrointestinal tract.

What is the danger of mercury?

If the thermometer is broken, the danger will be in the following cases:

• mercury balls spill over the floor, roll under the baseboards and into the cracks;
• get on upholstered furniture, carpet, soft children's toys, clothes, and they can stay there for a long time;
• in case of untimely demercurization with shoes or on the paws of animals, mercury is carried further around the apartment.

The most dangerous way for mercury vapor to enter the body is when incompletely uncollected mercury remains on objects or in floor crevices. Further inhalation of mercury vapor occurs. Mercury has the ability to accumulate in the kidneys, heart, and brain. Various trace elements and oxygen contained in the blood contribute to the oxidation and formation of mercury salts. They cause a state of acute or chronic intoxication.

Acute mercury vapor poisoning - symptoms

At acute intoxication(poisoning) victims complain of a disorder of the gastrointestinal tract (nausea, vomiting, loose stools), falls arterial pressure, the pulse is rare, thready, fainting is possible.

Damage symptoms respiratory tract: tracheobronchitis, runny nose, after a few hours, severe toxic pneumonia may develop and toxic edema lungs. At the same time, symptoms of damage to the digestive organs (frequent loose stools) and central nervous system(drowsiness, periods of excitement). On the 3-4th day, acute renal failure develops.

Acute poisoning may occur at 0.13 - 0.80 mg / m3. Fatal intoxication develops when 2.5 g of mercury vapor is inhaled.

According to GN 2.1.6.1338-03 "Maximum Permissible Concentrations (MPC) of pollutants in atmospheric air populated areas” and SanPiN 2.1.2.1002-00 “Sanitary and epidemiological requirements for residential buildings and premises”, the maximum permissible concentration of mercury vapor must exceed 0.0003 mg/m3.

Chronic poisoning with mercury vapor

At chronic poisoning clinical picture not so pronounced and develops gradually. characteristic feature is a metallic taste in the mouth, looseness and bleeding of the gums, profuse salivation. Victims are easily excitable, irritable, they have a weakening of memory, reduced physical and mental performance. They get tired quickly, sleep poorly, and are apathetic.

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.

If you have a mercury spill emergency and after a while you notice the above symptoms, then you need to urgently contact your nearest medical institution. You don't have to wait too long to get medical help.

Demercurization

Demercurization is understood as a set of measures to remove mercury from premises by various methods.

• Mechanical (sorption, collection of rolled balls of mercury, wet mechanical cleaning, removal of contaminated structures, etc.);
• Chemical (transfer of mercury to a bound state to reduce the rate of evaporation).

If the thermometer crashed, the first thing to do is not to panic. And if you follow the rules correctly, then the consequences of bottling will be minimized. Then proceed as follows.

1. Take out of the room where the thermometer crashed, children and animals.
2. Put on a scarf or a disposable medical cap on your head, rubber gloves on your hands, shoe covers on your feet, or you can use plastic bags instead and be sure to put on a respirator or just moistened gauze bandage on your face to protect your respiratory organs.
3. Open all vents or windows for the entire period of demercurization (4 hours) and after it for 30 minutes.
4. Remove curtains from windows, remove bedspreads, soft toys. They need to be washed in a hot soapy solution or taken out into the open air for several days.
5. Prepare a container where you will collect the remnants of the spilled mercury, it is advisable to pour half the volume of the container with water there.
6. When carrying out demercurization, remove gold jewelry. Mercury vapor and mercury itself react with gold.

Never use a broom or vacuum cleaner to remove spilled mercury. If you use them, then later the remnants of mercury will disperse throughout the apartment.

First, we collect the remains of a broken thermometer and large drops of mercury in a container of water using a rubber enema, disposable syringe, pipette or tape. Pay Special attention the fact that droplets can roll into the cracks and under the plinth. Put all this in a container with water and tightly close it with a lid.

floor washing

1. The next step will be washing the floor with hot (70-80 ° C) soap and soda solution (40 grams of chopped soap or washing powder and 50 grams of soda ash). Moisten the surfaces abundantly with the solution at the rate of 0.4 - 1.0 liters per 1 sq. meter of floor area. We carefully apply it with rags or brushes over the entire surface, paying special attention to the cracks. Then we carefully rub the solution with rags and clean water, trying to prevent flush water from getting under the underground space and flooring.
2. Then we wash the floors with a 0.2% solution of potassium permanganate (1 g of KMnO4 per 1 liter of water), leave for 4 hours.
3. After this time, we thoroughly wash the walls, windows, window sills, doors. Lastly, wash the floor again with a hot soapy soda solution and ventilate the room.

The final stage

At the end of the cleaning, you must take off your bathrobe, mask, hat, gloves and shoe covers and put everything in a plastic bag. There we also add a broken thermometer with the remnants of mercury and rags, which were used to clean the room. According to the rules, we must hand over all this to the appropriate organization involved in the processing of such waste. But not every city or town has such organizations. And because of one thermometer, hardly anyone will even go to a neighboring city to hand over this waste for recycling.

This waste cannot be thrown into the container and the garbage chute, and it cannot be buried either. Therefore, it is best to call the ISU service and hand over this hazardous waste to them. They have to accept them.

In conclusion, watch the video of the program “Life is great!” with Elena Malysheva, where you can clearly tell what to do if a mercury thermometer breaks.

Be careful when using a mercury thermometer. If possible, replace it with an electronic one, it will be safer for everyone.

Dear my readers! I am very glad that you looked at my blog, thank you all! Was this article interesting and helpful to you? Please write your opinion in the comments. I really want you to also share this information with your friends in the social. networks.

I really hope that we will communicate with you for a long time, there will be many more interesting articles on the blog. In order not to miss them, subscribe to blog news.

Be healthy! Taisiya Filippova was with you.

The question of what to do if a child breaks a thermometer leads many parents to a state of stupor. Someone starts calling friends and trying to find out from them where to put the broken thermometer; someone tries to remove the mercury thermometer and its fragments with a vacuum cleaner; someone even flushes down the toilet assembled thermometer and all its parts; some people call 911 or other emergency services if they break a mercury thermometer in their apartment. Let's figure out what actions in a situation where a thermometer is broken (often both an adult and a child can break it) will be correct and what needs to be done immediately if someone breaks a thermometer in an apartment or house.

Prohibited actions

Often people take actions that only exacerbate the problem. What is absolutely impossible to do if a mercury thermometer is broken:

1. It is impossible to ventilate the room with a draft until the parts of the broken mercury thermometer are completely collected.
2. Do not throw away parts of the thermometer in public containers or garbage chutes in multi-storey buildings. Mercury vapor from one measuring device can pollute 6 thousand cubic meters of air, and your loved ones and yourself will breathe this air.
3. When cleaning, do not use a whisk, its rods will only grind the metal balls and will contribute to a greater spread of the toxic substance over the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe house.
4. It is strictly forbidden to use a vacuum cleaner. Under the influence of temperature, the evaporation of liquid mercury will accelerate, and the electrical appliance itself will become a source of reinfection vapors of a toxic substance (particles will settle on the parts of the device, and will pollute the air every time it is turned on). If you have collected mercury with a vacuum cleaner, then it is better to put it somewhere far away from home - hand it over, along with parts of the thermometer, to a special organization. No filters of modern devices can trap the vapors of this harmful substance.
5. Carpets and upholstered furniture that have been exposed to parts of a broken thermometer should not be thrown away - either someone will pick it up (and get life-threatening furniture), or it will end up in a place where municipal solid waste is stored and from there it will contaminate the air. Where to put her? Call specialists for demercurization and they will do the work to neutralize the toxic substance right at your home. If the thing is oversized, then you can independently take it to the point for the collection of mercury-containing waste.
6. Do not wash items that have been in contact with mercury in the washing machine. It is advisable to get rid of such clothes, first you need to spoil it and treat it with potassium permanganate.
7. It is impossible to wash away mercury into the sewer, as well as parts of a damaged thermometer and other things with which the premises were cleaned of harmful substances.

What threatens mercury poisoning

What happens if you break a thermometer and do not collect its remains in time? Mercury balls will evaporate and penetrate into human body when inhaled. Chronic or acute mercury vapor poisoning may occur. chronic poisoning occurs when contact with toxic vapors occurs for a long period of time (months or even years) with a slight excess of the MAC of mercury in the air. Acute poisoning is diagnosed when a person was in a room where mercury vapor significantly exceeds the MPC, even with a short exposure.

The consequences of poisoning can be different: from a decrease in the overall performance of the body, to more serious illnesses various organs.

The main signs of poisoning:

• Fatigue of the body with small loads.
• Increased sleepiness.
• Pain in the head.
• Vertigo.
• General weakness of the body.
• The appearance of apathy.
• The appearance of shyness, irritability, unusual for a person.
• Deterioration of concentration and memory.
• Tremor of the limbs.
• Deterioration of receptor activity.
• Increased sweating.
• Frequent urination.
• Decreased blood pressure.
• Changes in the thyroid gland.
• Deterioration of the activity of the heart.

There may be a predisposition to diseases such as tuberculosis, atherosclerosis, hypertension, diseases of the liver or gallbladder.

Women may have additional features mercury vapor poisoning:

• Violation of menstruation (both in the direction of reducing the intervals between bleeding, and in the direction of increasing; the time of bleeding itself may increase or decrease).
• Miscarriage, premature birth, spontaneous miscarriage, mastopathy and other diseases.
• Severe pregnancy.
• Having children with congenital pathologies mental and physical development.

Consequences may appear after a long time, even if contact with toxic fumes is stopped.

Basic rules for collecting thermometer fragments

The main actions in a situation where the thermometer is broken:

• First of all, you need to collect mercury from a broken thermometer, and you need to do this as quickly and efficiently as possible (since mercury can roll anywhere, and it will not be easy to remove it from there).
• If you or someone close to you broke a mercury thermometer at home, then you should collect glass fragments from the floor or those surfaces where they fell.
• A broken thermometer and its fragments must be collected when open windows and in the absence of animals and people (especially children).
• Where to put the parts from the thermometer if it was broken? They need to be removed in a container with water and this vessel is well clogged. Then hand over to the appropriate structure (read more about this later). Do not throw fragments into garbage containers or flush into public or private sewers (toilet, sink, bathroom).

If you don’t want to figure out for a long time how to assemble a thermometer, if it was broken, where you can take it and what to bring a broken mercury thermometer to, then contact a special service. Specialists in demercurization (professional mercury collection) will arrive on site and promptly help from all hard-to-reach places at home.

If you still decide to do the demercurization yourself and collect the broken thermometer, then follow the detailed instructions below.

Detailed instructions for demercurization

It is not glass fragments that are dangerous when a mercury thermometer is broken at home, which can hurt you, but the liquid inside the measuring device is mercury. It is important to prevent its evaporation, but to collect it in a liquid state as soon as possible and hand it over to a special company. How to do it right and what to do in no case - read on.

What to do

Get people and animals out of the room where the thermometer broke. Only the person conducting the liquidation of a domestic accident can remain.

Provide ventilation in the apartment, open the window in the room where the mercury thermometer is broken. It is important not to open doors or create drafts to prevent the spread of mercury vapor in the home to other rooms.

Protect the area where the mercury thermometer breaks - you can easily spread the balls of liquid throughout the rest of the house on the soles of shoes or on pet hair.

Ensure the safety of the person who will remove the thermometer and its parts:

• Give him rubber gloves.
• Put medical shoe covers or plastic bags on the person's legs.
• Protect the nose and mouth area with a bandage of cotton wool and gauze soaked in a solution of soda in water or just water.
• Give him a container of water, where he will collect a broken thermometer and balls of mercury. Water won't evaporate harmful substance broken thermometer.

Place all parts of the broken thermometer in a container (a glass jar with a lid works well). Try to inspect all objects near the place where the thermometer fell for the presence of metal balls. If you care about your health and the health of your loved ones, then carry out this procedure as carefully as possible to eliminate the consequences of mercury evaporation.

Use some tools that can help you collect parts of a broken thermometer:

• Newspaper sheets soaked in water (other paper sheets).
• A small pear (syringe) made of rubber material (it will also need to be handed over along with the remains of a broken thermometer).
• Medical plaster, tape or other adhesive tape.
• Wet cotton swabs.
• Children's plasticine.
• Brushes for shaving or painting.
• Syringe.

If mercury got on the carpet, then for at least six months, you need to remove it away from home. To do this, roll it to the center from the edges and take it out of the apartment. If the thermometer was broken in winter, then measures to remove mercury should be postponed until the warm season, but for now, store the carpet rolled up and laid in a plastic bag in a shed in the country. In the summer, you need to carry out some manipulations to free it from mercury. First of all, hang it on a bar, after spreading a cellophane film under it, and shake it (not much). It is not recommended to knock out carpet flooring with the help of special devices - mercury balls will become smaller and scatter over a large area.

It is necessary to collect the balls from the film and place them in a container with water. Carpeting should be left to air for a quarter of the year.

If you broke a thermometer on a plank floor, then take a good look at the joints between the boards - drops of metal very often roll up there. Do not disregard the plinth around the perimeter of the room in the apartment. If there is a possibility of finding mercury balls there, then tear off the baseboard - it will be better than later treating the consequences of mercury vapor poisoning due to a broken thermometer.

If you need a lot of time to eliminate the consequences of someone breaking a thermometer, then every quarter of an hour you need to take a break and go outside or balcony.

The container where you collected the particles of a broken thermometer, tightly close the lid or cork. Before handing over to the collection point, keep it away from heating devices.

You can't throw away a jar of mercury. It must be handed over to a mercury collection point, including energy-saving light bulbs.

The place where the thermometer was broken needs to be processed bleach or solution potassium permanganate(potassium permanganate).

With the use of potassium permanganate

1. Prepare an opaque solution of dark red potassium permanganate (in a liter of the resulting solution, dilute a tablespoon of ordinary salt and a tablespoon of acid - acetic or citric acid is suitable, you can use a liquid to dissolve rust).
2. Rinse well the place where the thermometer broke, and all places where mercury could get into. In the cracks, you can apply the solution with a brush, brush or spray gun (for spraying flowers, for example).
3. Leave the solution for several hours (repeating the treatment as the surfaces dry).
4. You can wash off the surfaces where the thermometer was broken, potassium permanganate with a solution of soap and soda (dilute 0.04 kg of soap and 0.05 kg of soda in a liter).
5. Every day you need to carry out wet cleaning of the house several times and thorough ventilation.

on upholstery upholstered furniture, carpet or linoleum, indelible stains from potassium permanganate may remain.

With the use of bleach

Demercurization consists of 2 stages:

1. Primary treatment with chlorine-containing composition.
2. Secondary treatment with chlorine-containing composition.

used water solution chlorine bleach (whiteness). For half a bucket of water, you need to take a liter of whiteness. To process the resulting composition of surfaces, you need to protect your hands rubber gloves and use a foam sponge or rags. Wash the surfaces near which the thermometer was broken, especially carefully treat the cracks and the area near the baseboard. It is recommended to keep the solution for about a quarter of an hour.

Secondary treatment is carried out over the next month with washing the surfaces with the same composition and at intervals of several times a week. Ventilate the room as often as possible. It is better to do this when opening the window for a long time in the micro-ventilation mode than to open it wide open for a short time.

What to do with the things with which the demercurization took place? Fold in a plastic bag, tie it tightly and hand it over to the same organization where you will hand over parts of a broken thermometer.

Qualitatively carried out demercurization will allow to significantly reduce the MPC of mercury in the air, but the residual vapors will be in the room for up to 3 months. Under the condition of regular ventilation, harm to the body will not occur.