What to do if the thermometer crashes. The consequences of poisoning pairs of mercury

All colds begin ... with a thermometer! This glass wand, strung on a mercury tube, has been an integral part of our domestic first -aid kits for many years. The beneficial properties of the measuring device are undeniable: in a matter of minutes it provides accurate information about the temperature of the human body. However, the mercury thermometer needs to be expected extremely carefully - the mercury balls that have torn out are a great danger for our health and the environment!

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There is little in which family did not break the mercury thermometer. The situation is unpleasant, but not critical. However, the question of the peculiarities of the disposal of a spoiled thermometer with a mercury tip plows many into a panic: everyone knows how dangerous mercury is, but not everyone knows how to do in such a situation. Some collect elusive metal balls using a vacuum cleaner, the latter wash them into the toilet, others are wrapped in a piece of paper and throw a dangerous envelope into a garbage bucket. As you can see, there are many options for eliminating the problem, but not one of them, unfortunately, is correct and safe.

In this article, we will try to illuminate all aspects of this difficult situation and answer the question of how to remove a crashed thermometer correctly.

What to do is strictly forbidden when the thermometer crashed

The culprit of the incident can become both a child and an adult. Let's talk about what needs to be done right away if a thermometer crashed in the apartment. In most cases, rash actions only exacerbate the situation. We list what you can not do if the mercury from the thermometer is bursting out:

You can not arrange a draft in the apartment, while the mercury is on the floor of the room.
You can not throw fragments of a thermometer into street garbage containers and garbage chips. Just think that mercury vapors from one broken thermometer can poison about 6 thousand meters ³ The air that you breathe, your family and neighbors.
You can not notice the mercury balls with a broom, since its rods will only divide them into smaller parts, and this will certainly lead to an increase in the area of \u200b\u200btoxic pollution in the apartment.
You can not collect metal balls with a vacuum cleaner. The temperature of the device will only spur the evaporation of liquid vapors of metal, in addition, the vacuum cleaner itself will turn into a source of secondary infection with mercury. Microscopic mercury particles settled on the walls of the container and other details of the vacuum cleaner, and then, while each turning on, the device is continued to poison the environment. If you hurried and still collected mercury from the floor with a vacuum cleaner, you will need to get rid of the device-for example, hand it over with the fragments of the thermometer to a special organization. Not a single, even the most “advanced” and assembled in the latest technology, the device will be able to hold and neutralize the dangerous substance.
You can’t throw up upholstered furniture, carpets or rugs on which the mercury and glass of a broken thermometer hit-someone can pick up the objects infected and hazardous for health or they will get to the warehouse of solid household waste, from where the air will pollute. What then to do? The most correct solution: to call representatives of the demurkurization service that disinfect the surface contaminated with mercury right at your home. If the metal balls hit a small thing, you can deliver it to the reception point of mercury -containing waste on your own.
You can not wash things in the typewriter that are contacted with mercury. It is better to get rid of infected clothes - first cut it with scissors (so that no one picked up) and treat potassium permanganate.
You can not wash off the collected mercury balls into the toilet. The same applies to fragments of the thermometer and the objects with which you collected mercury from the floor or furniture.

The thermometer crashed: what are the consequences?

Having familiarized yourself with the list of prohibited actions in relation to the broken thermometer, you may have the question of how just all these precautions are, is the mercury so dangerous? Indeed, it is difficult to believe that about a dozen metal balls can greatly harm your health and even more so to pose a threat to the environment. In fact, the evaporation of mercury particles that did not utilize in time can harm you more than you can imagine! Consider the consequences of a person’s contact with a dangerous substance.

Mercury vapors enter the human body when inhaling. Depending on the duration of contact, the acute and chronic forms of poisoning in pairs of mercury are distinguished. So, chronic poisoning is said when a person breathes poisonous pairs for several months or even years with a slight excess of mercury MPC in the air. Acute poisoning occurs if a person spent some (even very insignificant) time in a closed room, where the concentration of mercury greatly exceeds the MPC.

The spectrum of negative consequences after contact with mercury vapors, unfortunately, is very large: from the general loss of forces and loss of performance to the development of serious diseases of internal organs and systems.

This is how the main symptoms of poisoning of mercury in pairs can manifest:

Fast fatigue with a slight or short load.
Constant drowsiness.
Headache and dizziness.
General weakness of the body.
Apathy to everything.
The sudden appearance of shyness or irritability, which used to be unusual for a person.
Disorder of concentration, worsening memory.
Tremor (trembling) of the limbs.
Disorder of receptor activity.
Frequent urination.
Increased sweating.
Decrease in blood pressure.
Thyroid dysfunction.
Various disorders of the heart.

If a home thermometer crashes, and you have not completely or not completely collected mercury, keep in mind that in the future such a mistake threatens the development of tuberculosis, atherosclerosis, hypertension, liver diseases and gall bladder.

The female body reacts to the poisonous pairs of mercury more acutely than male:

the nature of menstruation is changing (menstruation becomes either very meager or abundant, the menstrual cycle increases or decreases);
a woman may encounter an inexcolved pregnancy, which over time becomes familiar. The risk of premature birth, spontaneous miscarriages, the development of mastopathy is also great;
women in the position are very difficult to tolerate pregnancy;
the kids of mothers who have been exposed to mercury vapors for a long time are often born with physical and mental abnormalities.

It is noteworthy that the consequences can make themselves felt a lot after direct contact with the toxic substance. As you can see, it is easier to remember the recommendations for the proper collection and disposal of mercury and fragments of a thermometer once and for all once and for all than to expose yourself and your native potential danger.

How to assemble a crashed thermometer

Check out a clear plan of action in a situation where a mercury thermometer crashed:

First of all, they quickly and efficiently collect mercury balls, making sure that they do not roll into hard -to -reach places.
Then, glass from a broken thermometer is collected from the floor or other surfaces.
It is necessary to collect a damaged measuring device with an open window and in the absence of children and pets.
The glass parts of the thermometer are cleaned in a container filled with water, after which this vessel is covered with a dense lid. The “dangerous” container must be delivered to a special service that is engaged in the disposal of such things. Once again, we recall that glass fragments should by no means get into the garbage container or a common sewer!

In order not to collect mercury on your own, you can seek help from specialists in professional collection and disposal of mercury (demurcurization). Representatives of such a service will come to your house, collect the remains of a broken armometer and take out mercury from all inaccessible places of the room, thereby securing you and your family.

How to assemble mercury yourself if a thermometer crashes

To act correctly, it is important to understand that the main danger is not small fragments of glass, but the mercury, which was enclosed in a measuring device before it was defeated. Your task is to prevent the evaporation of the toxic substance. To do this, you need to collect it as quickly as possible in a liquid state. Next, we will give instructions thanks to which you will learn how to do everything right:

In the room where the thermometer with mercury crashed, people and animals cannot be allowed - only a person can remain there who took responsibility to eliminate this unpleasant incident.
Open the window in the room where the accident occurred, but in no case arrange a draft, otherwise a pair of dangerous substance will spread to other rooms.
It is important to protect the place where mercury balls fell, since they are very easy to smash around the house on the soles of the shoes. Take advantage of a damp cloth for this.
Before proceeding with the collection of mercury, you need to protect yourself as much as possible: put on your hands rubber gloves, and hide the area of \u200b\u200bthe mouth and nose under a cotton-garnish bandage previously impregnated with a solution of water and soda.
Take a glass jar with a lid and fill it with water - you will collect parts of the thermometer and mercury balls into it. Water prevents the evaporation of harmful substance.
Closely inspect the place of the thermometer to see where exactly the metal balls lie, if they were rolled up where it will be difficult to get. Do this very carefully, otherwise the unnoticed part of the mercury will become a real threat to your family’s health. After the mercury is in a jar of water, collect glasses of glass and send them there.

How to collect mercury from the floor

There are devices that will help you collect elusive metal balls. You can use:

with paper moistened in water (newspaper sheets, for example);
a small fraud (it is handed over to the demurkurization service along with a broken thermometer);
tape or medical patch;
wet cotton swabs;
children's plasticine;
brush for shaving or drawing;
syringe.

If the mercury scattered along the carpet, then it needs to be carried away from the house for at least six months. Turn it from the edges to the center and remove it from the apartment. If the thermometer was broken in winter, then the cleansing of the carpet from mercury must be postponed until the warm season. All this time, the carpet tightly packed in cellophanes can be stored in the barn in the country. In the summer, spread the carpet on the bar, spreading a cellophane film under it in advance. Slightly shake the carpet - if the mercury remains in his pile, it will certainly fall on the cellophane. You can’t knock out the flooring with something! In this case, the balls of the dangerous substance will be crushed and spread to the sides. The collected mercury is enclosed in a jar of water, and the carpet is ventilated for another 3 months.

If the thermometer fell onto the plank floor and crashed, the object of your close attention should be joints and alkalis between the boards, as well as the skirting board along the perimeter of the room. If you have suspicions that the mercury has rolled into some gap, you will have to disrupt the skirting board or raise the floor boards, but this is in any case easier than getting rid of the consequences of poisoning in pairs of mercury.

If the area of \u200b\u200binfection is too large and you can’t cope quickly, then every 15 minutes. Arrange breaks and go to the balcony or street to breathe air. Cover the jar, into which you collected fragments of the thermometer and mercury, close the lid tightly and, before handing over to the reception point, keep it away from the heating devices. The most suitable place for her will be the balcony.

Ways to demurcurization of the premises

The room, and especially the place where the mercury turned out to be, must be processed properly.

With the help of potassium permanganate

Prepare a concentrated solution of saturated red color from the powder of potassium permanganate, and then add 1 tbsp. l. salt and 1 tbsp. l. acetic or citric acid. Now thoroughly rinse the place with the resulting solution where the mercury and fragments of the glass got. You can get into the cracks with a brush, brush or spray. The disinfectant must be left for several hours, but do not forget to apply a new layer as it dries. Traces of potassium permanganate are removed using a solution of laundry soap and soda (0.04 kg of soap and 0.05 soda per 1 liter of water). After this processing every day, do wet cleaning in the room and ventilate the whole apartment well.

With the help of chloride

Demerkurization is carried out by a water solution of whiteness, which, as you know, contains chlorine. In 0.5 buckets of water add 1 liter of white. Remember safety precautions: protect your hands with rubber gloves. The prepared solution process all the surfaces where the mercury was using a sponge or rags for this. Pay special attention to the cracks and the place of adjusting the baseboard to the floor. Do not wash off the product for about 15 minutes.

Over the next month, carry out secondary processing 2 to 3 times a week. Do not forget to ventilate the room as often as you can. It is best to leave windows in ventilation mode for a long time.

It is important! Things in which you cleaned your house from a dangerous substance are folded into a dense plastic bag and send it to the same organization where you will give a broken thermometer.

No matter how carefully it was washed and ventilated, where the mercury was located, the residual share of this substance will be present in the room for about 3 months. However, this is not a reason for panic: with regular ventilations, nothing threatens your health.

Where to turn for help if a thermometer crashes

If a thermometer crashed at your home, you should know which organizations you can contact:

report the incident to the local rescue service, and its representatives will definitely tell you what to do in this case. Perhaps they themselves will pick up a container with a broken thermometer;
find out in the reference service the coordinates of the organization that specializes in demurkurization;
call the emergency response service;
if you doubt the quality of the mercury conducted in the room with your own hands, seek help in the hygiene and epidemiology service, and then qualified specialists will conduct a laboratory examination of your housing to the level of vapor of mercury in the air.

What to do if the thermometer crashes