Methodological recommendations for the disinfection of mercury. What to do if the thermometer breaks

Introduction

This text is written not for specialists, but for all those who, due to a fatal accident, may encounter spilled mercury in everyday life. The peculiarity of such accidents is small masses of mercury, so the likelihood of acute poisoning is low. But, on the other hand, if complete cleaning is not carried out ( demercurization), chronic poisoning may occur, causing enormous harm to health.

So, mercury is dangerous for humans chemical element. We used this term here to emphasize that not only metallic mercury, used for the production of thermometers and “ancient” types of tonometers, is harmful, but also any of its compounds found in various technical devices (for example, in fluorescent fluorescent lamps). But still, due to certain characteristics, metallic mercury is the most dangerous in everyday life.

Let's consider what happens as a result of a thermometer failure. The spilled mercury scatters in small droplets across the surface of the furniture and floor. Since liquid mercury does not wet any materials, these droplets do not have the “habit” of seeping into cracks or through fabric, but can fall down if they are small enough.

Like any liquid, the dispersed mercury begins to evaporate, gradually increasing the concentration of vapors in the air of the apartment.

From here it is clear that you have two ways to get poisoned: either in some incredible way swallow a drop of mercury from the floor or, which is not difficult, inhale toxic fumes. In the first case, you should induce vomiting and immediately consult a doctor, but further is not our part. We will look at what actions should be taken to avoid the second danger. So, let's repeat the chain of processes again. The resulting droplets of mercury evaporate, and then its vapors enter the lungs, poisoning us. This makes the course of our actions clear: first remove the liquid mercury to prevent its further evaporation, and then ventilate the room well, thereby purifying the air in the apartment. And these simple operations are enough for you to feel completely calm in the future. In order not to sin before the truth, it must be said that with a high concentration of vapors, furniture, plaster, linoleum can accumulate ( adsorb) mercury and become its additional source even when all the droplets and puddles have long been removed. But this does not threaten you, because you are not going to spend weeks not cleaning up the consequences of a broken thermometer?).

What to do

First of all, do not walk on the contaminated area of the floor, so as not to spread the splashed mercury on your feet throughout the apartment. Close the door and windows indoors. This will somewhat reduce the evaporation of mercury and the spread of its vapor throughout the rest of the apartment.

Step 1: Clean up spilled mercury

Balls of mercury are collected by sweeping them with a hair brush into “pounds” of smooth paper, like a scoop.

Small balls can be easily picked up using small pieces of plaster or tape.

You can use a medical rubber bulb (syringe). True, you need to get the hang of quickly, but at the same time smoothly, turning the pear with the hole up while it sucks in the ball. Otherwise it will fall back out.

Very small, dusty balls of mercury can be removed with damp paper. To do this, take filter paper or newsprint, soak it in water and then squeeze it out.

All the balls collected in one way or another are placed in a jar with a screw-on lid.

Attention! Under no circumstances should you collect mercury using a vacuum cleaner! The air intensively blown by a vacuum cleaner facilitates the evaporation of mercury already sucked into the dust bag, which leads to a significant increase in the concentration of vapors in the air of your apartment!

Step 2: chemical demercurization

As a rule, it is not possible to collect all the mercury mechanically. Several microscopic balls may get lost in some cracks. To prevent their evaporation, it is necessary to transfer metallic mercury from a liquid state to an oxidized, non-volatile state. To do this, it is treated with certain oxidizing solutions.

Contaminated surfaces are thoroughly moistened with a demercurizing solution and left for some time. After this, the treated stain is washed first with a soap solution, then clean water.

A 0.2% acidified solution of potassium permanganate can be used as a demercurizer. It is recommended to dissolve one pharmaceutical bottle of potassium permanganate (2 grams) in 1 liter of water, to which add half a glass (100 g) of 9% vinegar or a tablespoon (15 g) of vinegar essence. After 1-2 hours you can begin cleaning the treated surface.

Another option: a 20% solution of ferric chloride (found among radio amateurs as an etching solution). Small portions of FeCl 3 are dissolved, stirring, in cold water. Be careful, as this will heat up the solution! The surface to be treated is generously moistened and thoroughly wiped with a brush to better emulsify the mercury and left until completely dry, after which it is washed off.

Step 3: Ventilate

Finally, after removing evaporative sources, intensively ventilate the apartment to remove any mercury vapor that has already accumulated in the air. You should ventilate for several hours, as if changing the air in the apartment more than once.

Applications

Our information:

Mercury is the eightieth element in chemical table DI. Mendeleev, has an atomic mass of 200.59 amu.

Silver-white metal. The only metal found in liquid state under normal human conditions. Freezing point –38.9 0 C, boiling point 356.7 0 C. Density under normal conditions 13.6 g/cm 3 .

It has a very high surface tension, so it practically does not wet any materials, but collects on them in balls.

Metallic mercury is noticeably volatile at room temperature. In this case, layers of water, oil, glycerin, etc. do not prevent its evaporation. The vapor-air mixture formed during the evaporation of mercury turns out to be very slightly heavier due to the low concentration of vapors. Therefore, air containing mercury vapor does not fall down, but is dispersed throughout the room.

Mercury vapor poisoning

Metal mercury vapors, like most of its chemical compounds, are extremely toxic: their maximum permissible concentration in domestic premises (MPC b) is only 0.0003 mg/m 3, the shift average is 0.005 mg/m 3 (17 MAC b), the maximum permissible in the air of the working area is 0.01 mg/m 3 (33 MAC b).

Mercury vapor poisoning can be acute (at high concentrations) or chronic. As a rule, the concentration of vapors in domestic premises after a broken thermometer does not greatly exceed the maximum permissible limit. Therefore, acute poisoning is unlikely.

The first signs of chronic poisoning appear after several months of living in a room where the concentration of harmful vapors slightly exceeds the sanitary norm. In this case, the central nervous system is primarily affected.

The first signs: increased fatigue, drowsiness, general weakness, headaches, dizziness, apathy. Trembling (“mercury tremor”) of the fingers, then the eyelids, and lips gradually develops. Decreased skin sensitivity, taste and sense of smell.

People come into contact with mercury every day, because it is contained in fluorescent lamps, thermometers, refrigerators, and other household appliances. But what to do if this metal gets on open surfaces? Then it needs to be assembled quickly and competently, because time delays can be very expensive. To do this, it is necessary to carry out demercurization.

What kind of metal is this, its effect on the human body

Metallic mercury is the only heavy metal that is not excreted from the human body. It accumulates in the kidneys and liver and leads to cancer. Metallic mercury poisoning is not as strong as exposure to its vapors. The vapors are very toxic, quickly absorbed by the blood, and over time severe intoxication of the brain begins, often deaths, patients may remain disabled for life.

Mercury itself is a very heavy liquid. It has the ability to evaporate at room temperature, but the mass of the ball itself remains virtually unchanged. Even 5 mg of mercury in a regular thermometer can contaminate up to 30 cubic meters air, the vapor concentration is sufficient to cause severe poisoning. The only way To eliminate spilled mercury is to demercurize the room (another name for mercury is mercury).

What is demercurization

This is the process of removing mercury from contaminated surfaces. The technology may vary significantly depending on the level of pollution, volumes of spilled mercury, room size, and wind speed. There are physical and chemical methods demercurization, only physical methods are practiced at home. During industrial spills of mercury, sorbents are used that precipitate mercury, reduce its volatility, and speed up the process of cleaning the room. Sorbents are expensive, they are used by specialists, and calls are always paid.

How to do it yourself

To begin with, you need to isolate mercury vapor in a separate room to ensure the protection of other people. Therefore, the demercurization process is divided into two stages: ensuring the safety of others and collecting the spilled metal. To do this you need:

Remove all people from the premises, close the entrance doors tightly so that there is no draft;
Open the windows, turn on the air conditioner (if you have one) and cool the room as much as possible. The lower the temperature, the less vapor dangerous poison will spread;
Cover the spill area with a damp, thick cloth, preferably as tightly as possible. Remove all items that could be splashed with toxic liquid;
Close the door tightly, seal the cracks with tape, and leave the window open. It is necessary to ventilate the isolated room for at least an hour to reduce the temperature inside and the concentration of vapors.

After carrying out emergency work to ensure safety and block the spread of vapors through the rooms, you can begin physical collection metal

Next steps

After isolating the source of air pollution with mercury vapor, experts do not recommend rushing. Considering that mercury is a liquid, it actively adsorbs dust and dirt onto its surface. As a result, in just a few hours the volatility will decrease significantly. It is advisable to start demercurization one day after the spill, but if the room is residential and there are no other options, then you can start immediately.

Collect mercury:

Calling specialists. Firefighters, industry specialists, and the sanitary and epidemiological station will help collect mercury. Typically, a few visits, up to 24 hours apart, are enough to completely clean up a mercury spill. This activity is licensed, therefore, you must first check the availability of the necessary permits. The presence of mercury vapor and its concentration is checked with a special device, which is verified annually.
Carry out demercurization yourself using physical and chemical methods.

Necessary materials and tools for demercurization on your own:

Special clothing: respirator, overalls;
A small glass sealed jar for collecting mercury for further neutralization;
Sealed bags for contaminated clothing;
A syringe with a thick needle for collecting mercury;
Cotton wool, bandage or thick tape;
Gloves;
Lamp;
Sorbents (bleach, soda ash, bleach, potassium permanganate or iodine).

When collecting mercury, it is strictly forbidden to use a vacuum cleaner, broom or other methods that can break large balls into smaller ones. Then it will be more difficult to assemble the metal; you cannot do without special equipment.

Stages

First you need to collect the largest drops. They have a large surface bordering on air, therefore, a lot of vapor is formed. It is better to use thick paper and tape. As you move the sheet of paper, you can collect all the large drops, combine them into a single whole and pour the resulting mercury into a jar. It is better to collect small drops with a syringe, but be careful not to break them into small fragments. Scotch tape and adhesive plaster are excellent for such purposes. All available materials contaminated with metal must be placed in an airtight container and air access must be limited. To collect mercury in hard-to-reach places, it is better to use tampons soaked in potassium permanganate or bleach; they also need to be placed in a container.

If metal gets under the baseboard, behind the parquet, then dismantling is required.

It is strictly forbidden to throw mercury into landfills or trash bins - the degree of pollution will increase significantly. Every city has collection points for this liquid metal. If you throw poison down a garbage disposal, then the whole house can be poisoned, although in small concentrations.

Once all visible drops of metal have been collected, chemical demercurization can begin. The optimal solution is to do aqueous solution from potassium permanganate, soda ash, iodine in proportions of 1:1:1.5 ml per 100 ml of water. You can also add vinegar and citric acid for greater effect. This solution is needed to disinfect small droplets that splash onto carpets. Delete them in the usual way technically impossible.

Chemical demercurization

Preparation of physical solution. It is better to use potassium permanganate, bertholite salt. These are the most active sorbents against liquid poison. If they are not at home, then an aqueous or alcohol solution of iodine, soda ash, bleach. You need to work with bleach carefully so as not to damage the top respiratory tract chlorine vapors.
Demercurization process. Pour the solution into each crack; you can also apply it to natural carpets, but not to carpets. The stains left behind will remain forever.
Leave the solution for several hours, optimally a day.
Carry out a wet cleaning of the room, removing all floor coverings and sending them to dry cleaning. Then carry out wet cleaning daily to minimize the concentration of metal vapors. Optimal temperature external environment– up to 15 degrees.

There are also industrial synthetic demercurization products. These are polymer esters, surfactants based on isobutylene, formaldehyde, butyl alcohol. The products are relatively cheap, and each product comes with detailed instructions. Such mixtures cope well even with large contaminants, but they are toxic to others; precautions must be taken.

1. Get everyone out of the apartment as quickly as possible, close front door to prevent the spread of vapors.

2. Open the windows throughout the apartment and try to reduce the temperature in the room to at least 15 C.

3. Cover the area where the mercury has scattered with wet newspapers. Collect all things (clothes, linen, carpets, etc.) that could have gotten drops of mercury into plastic bags and take them out to the balcony or garage.

4. Close the door to the room where the thermometer was broken, leaving open window. Carefully seal the door to the room with adhesive tape. That's it emergency measures finished. The room with the source of contamination is isolated. You can take a break. Continue to intensively ventilate the apartment for at least another 30 - 40 minutes. After this, you can slightly close the windows and bring people into the room.

After the measures taken, conditions should be established in the apartment that are more or less acceptable for the permanent presence of people, with the exception of the room where the thermometer was broken.

What to do next to neutralize mercury?

Now that the source of mercury vapor has been isolated, there is no need to rush. Thermometers use very pure mercury, which is highly volatile, so you should not immediately rush to collect drops of mercury. If possible, it is better to postpone this not very pleasant procedure for 10 hours, or even for a day. During this time, the mercury will become slightly “contaminated” and its volatility will significantly decrease. This will make it possible to collect mercury under conditions usual for a “mercury workshop”, where working conditions are considered harmful, but still people work 6 hours a shift and without protective equipment.

In any case, the first stage of demercurization work will be the collection of mercury. To do this, you will have to open the source of pollution and the concentration of mercury vapor in the room will increase, so before carrying out demercurization it is necessary to empty the room of people again. Let's say right away that you have several options:

1. Call specialists and entrust everything to them. In many major cities There are well-trained specialists who will do this work efficiently. This usually requires 2-3 visits at intervals of several days. Since here too there is a risk of running into hacks, be sure to check that the specialists have a license or laboratory accreditation certificate. It's better if you have both. The device used for measurements must have a verification certificate (not expired) or there may be a verification stamp on the instrument panel with the date of verification.

2. You can try to get utility workers or rescuers to do this work “for free.” We will leave this option without comment.

3. We do demercurization on our own.

A) Using special means. Our Company is currently producing . Usually the kit comes with detailed instructions. This kit is useful to have in home medicine cabinet.

B) Using improvised means.

More often than not, thermometers break when it’s cold time of year, therefore, when carrying out demercurization, it is possible to greatly reduce the volatility of mercury by lowering the air temperature in the room. To do this you need to open the windows. It is better to wear clothes made of synthetic materials (sports jacket or windbreaker) as they are less contaminated with mercury vapor. You need to prepare in advance:

glass jar(100-400 ml) with a tight lid to collect mercury and contaminated materials;
large plastic bags for collecting items that may be contaminated;
a thick needle or knitting needle, a medical syringe;
medical cotton wool, pieces of plaster, a sheet of thick paper, rags;
rubber gloves;
table lamp with extension cord;
chemicals that have oxidizing (disinfecting or bleaching) properties and contain chlorine compounds (chlorins, ass., whiteness, etc.). A solution of iodine or potassium permanganate may be useful from the first aid kit.

The most important and the hard part Demercurization is the collection of drops of mercury. We strongly do not recommend using a vacuum cleaner for this, although professional demercurizers often use this technique.

Firstly, when collecting mercury with a vacuum cleaner in a room, the concentration of vapors sharply increases and when working without protective equipment, you can get noticeable poisoning.

Secondly, after such a procedure, a regular vacuum cleaner can no longer be used for its intended purpose due to severe contamination. Washing vacuum cleaners can only be restored after thorough washing with special solutions.

First of all, it is necessary to conduct a thorough inspection of things and surfaces on which drops of mercury could fall. When inspecting things and surfaces, you need to illuminate them with a lamp, then even the smallest drops will be clearly visible. All contaminated items should be placed in plastic bags and removed from the premises. When inspecting the floor, especially parquet, you can pre-mark with chalk or pencil the places where drops of mercury are found. Try not to step on contaminated areas so that drops of mercury do not get on your shoes.

You should start collecting mercury with the largest drops. To do this, use a sheet of thick paper, pre-folded on one side. To roll drops onto a sheet of paper, use a knitting needle or a thick needle.

By moving the drop with a sheet of paper, it can be connected to other drops and then one large drop can be transferred to a jar. To make the drops more visible to the surface being cleaned, it should be illuminated from the side with a table lamp. Pieces of plaster can be used to collect the smallest drops. Place the patch with the adhering drops in the jar. Some drops can be removed from the cracks with a knitting needle and a cotton swab wrapped around it. In this case, it is better to moisten the tampon with a solution of potassium permanganate or disinfectant. A tampon with adhering drops of mercury is also placed in a jar. It is convenient to remove mercury from the cracks using a medical syringe with a thick needle.

If there is a suspicion that mercury has got behind the baseboard or under the parquet floorboards, they should be removed in mandatory. Sometimes collecting mercury can take several hours, so every 10 - 15 minutes you should take breaks and go out into the fresh air. Collected mercury should be handled carefully. Under no circumstances should it be thrown into the toilet or garbage disposal. This will lead to new stains that are very difficult to remove.

A jar of collected mercury can be temporarily placed on a balcony or in a garage, and then handed over to representatives of the district department of civil defense and emergency situations, who should take it from you, although sometimes you need to be persistent.

After all visible drops of mercury have been collected, contaminated items, including those in which work was carried out, have been removed from the room, you can proceed to the second stage of work - chemical demercurization. As already mentioned, you can use chemicals available at home for this. Of course, improvised reagents are inferior in efficiency to standard ones and require longer processing.

The most accessible means for demercurization, which is available in every first aid kit, is potassium permanganate. For a one-time treatment, we recommend preparing about a liter of demercurization solution, for which you pour water into a jar and add a few crystals of potassium permanganate to a dark brown, almost opaque state. Add a tablespoon of salt and some acid per liter of solution (a tablespoon of vinegar essence or a pinch of citric acid or a spoonful of some rust remover). Mix everything thoroughly.

Next, you should apply the solution to the place where the mercury was collected, paying attention special attention cracks where you can pour a small amount of solution. Work should be carried out with rubber gloves. We warn you that the solution may leave permanent stains on the floor or things. The applied solution should be left for 6-8 hours, periodically wetting the treated surface with water as the solution dries.

Then you should thoroughly rinse the treated surface using detergent and wet clean the entire apartment. Further measures are preventive in nature. These include wet daily cleaning of the room and frequent ventilation. Our experience shows that by carefully following our recommendations, in most cases within 2-3 weeks it is possible to completely clear the apartment of mercury contamination, but in any case, checking the quality of work using instruments will not be superfluous.

Almost every home has a mercury thermometer, which must be handled with extreme care, because it contains special dangerous metal mercury.

If it breaks, how to neutralize mercury at home? We'll talk about this and much more in our article.

Safety precautions

We learned how to neutralize mercury, let's talk a little about safety precautions.

This is a difficult process that can take several hours. Therefore, every fifteen minutes it is worth taking a break, going out into the fresh air. You need to drink plenty of fluids, as the metal is excreted from the body by the kidneys.

What you should pay attention to:

Do not wash clothing that has been in contact with mercury in a washing machine.
It is strictly forbidden to throw silver balls into the toilet; they will fall onto the walls of the pipes and continue to produce toxic evaporation and poison the residents of the entire multi-story building. The same goes for the garbage disposal.
When treating an infected room, do not turn on the air conditioner; particles will settle on the filters.
Do not throw mercury balls into the furnace; toxic substances escape into the atmosphere with smoke.

To avoid this problem, you need to store the thermometer in a secluded place inaccessible to children. It's better to use electronic versions.

Final steps

After all stages of cleaning the room from mercury, you need to perform the following steps:

Using a weak solution of potassium permanganate, gargle and brush your teeth.
Drink plenty of any liquid.
Take a few pills activated carbon.
Do not forget to ventilate the room and treat the walls and floor with the above products.
If liquid metal gets on the surface of the skin, the affected area should be treated with lime mortar. It may leave a small burn, but this is minor damage to health compared to poisoning.

Remember, a broken thermometer is very dangerous!

A tiny ball can evaporate for about a year. The speed of this process will directly depend on the following factors:

Room air temperature.
From the amount of mercury poured.
The area of the room in which the accident occurred.

Even a small amount of this metal can cause serious problems with health. After all, it can accumulate inside our body, which causes chronic poisoning.

Signs are not immediately apparent. They appear later, this is an irritable state, problems with sleep and the nervous system.

And finally, how to neutralize mercury if it gets inside

The first thing to do is to induce vomiting in the poisoned person.
Rinse the stomach with a solution of activated carbon or egg white.
Then drink a glass of milk.
And wait for the ambulance.

If a person is poisoned by vapors, he must be taken outside until doctors arrive.