The question of where to throw the thermometer appears sooner or later in any family. After all, it is with the help of this simple medical device that you can most easily measure the temperature of an adult or child. But over time, thermometers become unusable, they often break, and there is a need to dispose of them. But you can’t throw the thermometer into a regular one. trash container, because mercury is a dangerous metal that can harm more than one person in this case. What to do in this case, we will tell further.
The thermometer broke...
Thermometer - irreplaceable thing in your home medicine cabinet, but eventually you have to get rid of it. Where should I throw away the thermometer and why can’t it be disposed of like all regular garbage?
When using this device you must be extremely careful and careful. But often the thermometer can break accidentally or, for example, due to a child’s prank. Then the question immediately arises of where to throw away the mercury thermometer and how to generally behave if mercury is spilled in the house.
How does mercury enter the body?
It is not mercury itself that is dangerous to humans, but the vapors it emits. They can cause real harm to human health and even life. From a broken thermometer, a dangerous substance can enter our body in two ways. Either by mouth or by inhaling toxic fumes.
We admit that the first option is extremely rare. There is a danger that a small and unintelligent child may taste the beautiful silver balls. Therefore, if there are children in your house when the thermometer breaks, the first thing you need to do is isolate them, and then decide where to throw the thermometer away.
If this does happen, and the baby swallows several mercury balls, then you should act immediately. They should spend as little time as possible in the body. Therefore, immediately induce vomiting in the child and call ambulance. Experienced doctors know how to help a person in such a situation, the main thing is not to hesitate. Otherwise, the consequences can be very sad, even death.
But the option when a person can inhale mercury vapor occurs quite often. Usually, this happens due to the most common negligence, unwillingness or ignorance of what to do in such situations, where to throw away a broken mercury thermometer.
Why is mercury dangerous?
As a result, a person may experience mercury poisoning. Its main danger is that in the first hours it is almost impossible to determine whether the substance has entered the body; symptoms do not appear immediately. Enough for a long time Mercury poisoning can occur without any visible consequences for the body.
The first symptoms are irritability, sudden weight loss, and increased fatigue. Very often they are not given any importance, attributing everything to fatigue and workload. But at this time the mercury slowly reaches the central nervous system and kidneys.
Therefore, it is very important, as soon as the thermometer breaks, to remove everything as quickly as possible, act carefully, but do not neglect safety rules.
Algorithm of actions
If your thermometer breaks, you must clearly know where to throw away the thermometer with mercury and what to do. First of all, there is no need to panic, then everything will definitely be fine. A broken thermometer is not a tragedy, but a fairly common everyday problem.
First of all, open a window in the room in which this happened, or better yet, a window. At the same time, close all doors to other rooms tightly so that the vapors remain in a confined space and gradually evaporate outside. It is important to prevent toxic mercury vapor from spreading throughout your home. It is necessary to ventilate for at least one hour.
You should not approach the place where you broke the thermometer unless absolutely necessary. Mercury can easily stick to your soles, making it more likely that you'll spread it all over your apartment.
Mercury must be thoroughly removed. Please take precautions before you begin this operation. You should wear rubber gloves on your hands and plastic bags on your feet. You also need to remember about the respiratory organs; to protect them, use a bandage soaked in a soda solution.
Why do you need a jar of water?
Now we need to decide where to throw away the mercury from the broken thermometer. Prepare a glass jar with cold water, it is in it that mercury must be collected. Water must be poured, it will not allow the mercury balls to evaporate. Collect the hazardous substance calmly and carefully, without missing a single square centimeter of the room where it might end up. Usually, poisoning occurs due to negligence in handling a broken thermometer, therefore, in order not to cause yourself unnecessary worries, take this as seriously as possible.
Helpful tip: the smallest mercury balls will be easier to collect if you use tape, a syringe or plasticine. If the search and collection of mercury is delayed, then take additional measures safety: go outside every 15 minutes to breathe fresh air, it is strictly not recommended to stay in a room in which a thermometer has broken for more than a quarter of an hour. In this case, there will be a high probability of poisoning by mercury vapor.
When you have managed to collect all the balls from the broken thermometer, carefully close the jar with a tight lid and make sure that it is not near heating devices. Remember that throwing such a can into a regular trash container is strictly prohibited; it must be disposed of in accordance with all rules.
How to donate mercury?
When you have finished collecting a hazardous substance, you need to decide where to throw it away. broken thermometer. After all, leaving a deadly poisonous substance at home is extremely dangerous.
When the broken thermometer is carefully removed, according to the instructions already described in this article, you need to call the duty department regional administration ministries emergency situations. Rescuers must be told about this incident. The team will come to your home and take away the jar with the toxic substance, as well as the remains of the thermometer itself and all the materials that you used during cleaning (syringes, gloves, bags). The duties of the Ministry of Emergency Situations employees include mandatory thorough disinfection of the room in which the thermometer broke.
Health prevention
When disinfection is carried out, pay attention to the prevention of your health. Even if you are 100 percent sure that mercury has not entered your body, preventive measures will not hurt. Remember that signs of poisoning do not appear immediately; for the first few days you may not even suspect that your body is affected.
So, for prevention, take a weak solution of potassium permanganate, with which you need to thoroughly rinse your throat, all oral cavity, and then brush your teeth. It will be useful to take a few tablets of activated carbon. The next few days after the incident you need to drink as much as possible clean water, since all harmful mercury formations are most effectively eliminated through the kidneys.
Is it possible not to call the Ministry of Emergency Situations?
Of course, not everyone would want to call emergency services because of a broken thermometer. Disinfection may take a long time, and in general, some people simply won’t want to see strangers in their home. Therefore, if you are convinced that you yourself have thoroughly cleaned the room of all traces of mercury, you do not have to do this. But in this case, the question arises of where to throw away the broken thermometer.
Take a jar of mercury in which you collected all the balls, as well as the remains of the thermometer itself and everything that you used during the cleaning process, even the clothes that you were wearing at that moment, especially if you suspect that mercury may have gotten on it. All this must be taken to a specialized enterprise that deals with the disposal of waste containing mercury.
After this, also take care of your health, because it is better to take preventive measures than to later be treated for heavy metal poisoning.
If there is no specialized enterprise in the city...
Please note that there are specialized enterprises for collecting mercury waste only in major cities. If in your locality There is no such company, the problem of where to throw the thermometer becomes urgent.
In this case, it is recommended to contact an organization that specializes in the distribution of medicines. Such companies must have special containers for disposal of mercury-containing waste, as well as other chemical waste that may threaten human life and health. You can find out whether such companies exist in your locality by contacting the help desk.
If they are not available, then you can take the broken thermometer to the sanitary and epidemiological station or to any state pharmacy, they are required to accept it from you. To do this, you will need to fill out a special application. Now you know where to throw the thermometer.
Places for mercury disposal in Moscow
There are many places in the capital where you can return a broken thermometer. Firstly, they should be accepted in DEZs - these are analogues of management companies.
Secondly, you can contact NPP Ecotrom (Mercury Service LLC). They are located near the Yuzhnaya metro station, from where a free bus runs to the enterprise. Address: Dorozhnaya street, building 3, building 16. They will definitely help you here, and you will no longer worry about where to throw away a thermometer with mercury in Moscow.
Thirdly, companies should accept the thermometer:
- ecological enterprise"Inter Green";
- LLC "Mercom";
- group of environmental companies "Econ";
- venture firm "FID-Dubna".
What should you not do if your thermometer is broken?
To summarize, we focus special attention on what absolutely cannot be done if the thermometer is broken. It is important not to take any rash actions; through your own ignorance, you can aggravate the situation and get mercury poisoning. If you are not sure that you are doing everything correctly, call the Ministry of Emergency Situations and trust everything to the specialists.
The main thing is to remember that it is forbidden to create a draft in the room where you placed the thermometer until all the mercury has been collected. When removing mercury balls, it is forbidden to use a broom; by doing this, you can only worsen the situation by spreading dangerous balls over the entire surface. It is also not recommended to use a vacuum cleaner, as this will cause toxic fumes to spread throughout the apartment.
Probably still in past life I heard a story about how
At one factory, jars of mercury were buried in the ground - but everything there was much harsher than in our lives.
Sometimes you just need to somehow collect mercury... In our family we usually used a magnet for this....
We read:
Instructions for those who have broken a thermometer and do not know how to properly collect mercury balls. And most importantly - where and in what form to submit them
Why is mercury dangerous?
Toxic vapors of this metal (and they begin to evaporate at temperatures from +18 ° C) can enter the body. Moreover, some of the drops will probably “scatter” and penetrate into the cracks of the floor and baseboards, carpet pile, etc. You won’t notice them, but mercury, actively evaporating, will gradually poison the air and your body. This poison is cumulative, that is, it gradually accumulates and “settles” in the body.
What does this mean? Accumulated mercury causes chronic mercury intoxication: after some time, a metallic taste appears in the mouth, stomatitis, dermatitis and anemia, headaches, problems with stool, kidneys, tremors in the limbs.
How to remove mercury
Very carefully, but this can be done independently, as environmentalists write. First, you need to remove children and animals from the room. If it's cold outside, open the window: this will slow down evaporation. But it is important to prevent a draft, otherwise the mercury will “scatter”.
You should put shoe covers or plastic bags on your feet to avoid stepping on mercury. Put rubber gloves on your hands, and a disposable mask with gauze soaked in a soda solution inside on your face.
The next step is to prepare a glass container (you don’t mind, you’ll have to give it away later) with water or a solution of potassium permanganate. You will need to place the collected substance and fragments into it.
We take two sheets of paper and cotton wool moistened with a 0.2% solution of potassium permanganate. An alternative to cotton wool is tape, a damp paint brush, dampened paper, or a syringe. With their help, you need to roll balls of mercury onto a sheet of paper and place them in a glass container.
The container with mercury and water should be tightly covered with a lid and it is better to take it to the balcony - away from heating devices. But under no circumstances should you throw it down the garbage disposal or flush it down the toilet.
Treat the area where the mercury was with a concentrated solution of potassium permanganate or chlorine.
How not to collect mercury
Under no circumstances should you collect mercury with a broom or vacuum cleaner. Mercury, together with the air, will pass through the vacuum cleaner engine, and a mercury film - amalgam - will form on engine parts made of non-ferrous metals. And then microdroplets of mercury will disperse with the air throughout the apartment.
“One day we came to a call from a grandmother who had broken a thermometer,” says Alexander Kuksa, technical director of the Testeco laboratory. – Extremely permissible concentration mercury is 300 nanograms. When the thermometer broke, the figure increased to 7,000. But that’s nothing. Then she wiped the mercury with a wet cloth and vacuumed the room. The concentration increased to 156,000 nanograms."
It is also not worth washing clothes in which you removed mercury. This can lead to harmful metal contamination in the washing machine. All things that came into contact with mercury will have to be thrown away.
Where to return a broken thermometer in Moscow
In theory, everything is simple. Call from mobile phone call 112 (from the landline - 01) and say that the thermometer has broken. They will write down your address, and if the tips above did not help, they will advise you and come directly to your home. It's free.
In practice, it all depends on the workload of ministry employees and the place where you live. If for some reason the Ministry of Emergency Situations cannot help you promptly, you can call a paid mercury cleaning service. It is expensive - from 5,000 rubles and above (plus a 50% surcharge for traveling at night).
“The procedure and its price depend on the situation,” explains Alexander Kuksa. “We come, collect mercury, then use instruments to measure the concentration of mercury vapor in the air. If it is still elevated, we look for local sources - balls of mercury could have rolled into the cracks of the parquet, behind the sofa, or into the pile of the carpet.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations does not always take on minor cases with a thermometer. In our practice, there was a story about a woman who bought new apartment in the center of Moscow and found a three-liter broken jar of mercury on the balcony. Here, of course, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations quarantined the house, carried out measurements, monitoring and processing for six months.”
Collected mercury usually put back into production - for example, it is purchased by factories for the production of measuring instruments
Many apartments still have mercury thermometers. They are familiar, and their testimony is trusted.
Mercury thermometer
How is mercury dangerous?
Mercury is a class 1 toxic substance. It is extremely volatile and evaporates even when negative temperatures. At room temperature the rate of its evaporation increases many times. When you inhale mercury vapor, it enters the lungs and spreads throughout the body. Its peculiarity is that it is extremely difficult to remove mercury that has entered the human body. And it does a lot of harm.
Mercury primarily affects the lungs, liver and kidneys. With high concentration and prolonged exposure, the human brain may be at risk.
Broken thermometer - how to dispose of it
If the thermometer fails (broken or cracked), you must immediately take measures to dispose of it. You can't just throw it in the trash - the consequences can be dire. But the degree of concern and the course of action depends on how exactly the thermometer is damaged.
The thermometer is damaged, but the mercury has not leaked out
- Prepare a hermetically sealed container in which the thermometer will fit. It is better to find a glass container - for example, a jar with a screw cap.
- First of all, you need to put on rubber gloves and further actions carry out only in them. They will protect you from cuts, and if the mercury does leak out, there will be no contact with it.
- Carefully inspect the entire thermometer to make sure there is no mercury leakage.
- Carefully place the thermometer into the prepared container and close it.
- Take the jar along with the thermometer to the nearest disposal point or container. IN as a last resort- to a clinic or pharmacy.
Recycling container
Mercury leaked from the thermometer
So that all or part of the mercury has leaked out, then first you need emergency measures to reduce exposure to spilled metal fumes.
Broken thermometer
- Remove children and animals from the room where the spill occurred. The liquid metal breaks up into small shiny balls that look beautiful. Children and animals will definitely want to play with them. Not to mention that this is simply dangerous - they can push some of the balls into hard-to-reach places.
Mercury balls
- Close all doors leading into the room. Place a rag soaked in a soda solution under the doors.
- Open the windows to ventilate the room. But avoid drafts. When there is a draft, mercury vapor will penetrate into other rooms, and mercury balls will spread throughout the room.
Important: if the temperature outside is higher than in the room, then it is better not to provide ventilation. With increasing temperature, mercury vapor increases sharply.
Further actions depend on the possibility of calling specialists. IN big cities There are special mercury services that can dispose of broken thermometers. You can contact the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
If calling a specialist is not possible, then you should begin collecting the hazardous metal yourself. The chances of successful cleaning will be higher if the mercury balls did not scatter throughout the room, but flowed onto a table or smooth floor. If mercury gets on the parquet or spreads across large area It will be difficult to collect it all.
- Put on strong rubber gloves on your hands, shoe covers on your shoes and a gauze mask on your face.
Latex gloves
- This will protect you from accidental contact with mercury and reduce the risk of inhaling its fumes. It also doesn’t hurt to change into synthetic clothes so that mercury balls cannot linger on them.
- Prepare a jar with an airtight lid and pour some water into it. The water should be cold to reduce mercury evaporation.
- If the mercury spill is small, you can fence off the area with thick rope or wet rags. In case of awkward actions when collecting metal balls, they will not roll out of the fenced area.
- When collecting mercury balls, do not touch them with your hands, even with gloves. They should be moved with cotton swabs or swabs. You need to collect them on sheets of paper or napkins. It is useful to soak napkins sunflower oil– the balls will stick well to such a surface.
Mercury collection
- Place the thermometer itself and all the collected mercury, along with napkins and cotton swabs, in a jar of water and close the lid tightly.
Jar with water, mercury and a cracked thermometer
- To collect small balls that have fallen into the cracks of the parquet or rolled under the baseboard, you can use tape or a syringe.
Using a syringe
- Place all items used for collection that do not fit in a container with water - shoe covers, gloves, syringes - in a tight container. plastic bag and tie it tightly
- Hand over the container and bag to a specialized recycling point
No matter how carefully the mercury is collected, there is no guarantee that all of it has been collected. Therefore, even after carrying out all the actions, it is recommended to call the emergency services or paid organizations to check the level of mercury vapor in the apartment. Give them the collected mercury and objects in contact with it. It is advisable to dispose of everything that came into contact with mercury. But if there is something valuable among them, then this item should be put out for airing for several weeks.
Mercury got on difficult surfaces - carpet, upholstered furniture
If fleecy objects are contaminated - carpets, furniture, shoes, then complete elimination of the dangerous substance is impossible. It is recommended not to leave such things in the house. But just throwing them out into the street or in the trash is wrong. They must be immediately taken outside, but carefully so that all the mercury that gets on them does not roll off.
Already on the street, collect as many dangerous balls as possible from them, using all the precautions discussed. If decontamination specialists are expected to arrive, then, of course, you need to trust them to carry out these procedures.
What not to do with a broken thermometer
- Do not simply throw a damaged thermometer down the garbage disposal, sewer, or try to bury it in the ground.
- Create drafts in an infected room
- Collect mercury with a brush or broom. When cleaning this way, some of the balls will probably crumble and roll to the side.
- Do not use a vacuum cleaner under any circumstances! Not only because it will then have to be handed over for recycling. Mercury vapor, and even heated in the vacuum cleaner, will be spread throughout the room.
In general, it is better to rely on help in removing mercury special services. Before their arrival, carry out only the most necessary actions - removal from dangerous place all people and animals, isolate the contaminated premises.
Impact of mercury on the environment and humans
There is no danger proper disposal mercury - in its long-term impact on the environment and its inhabitants. Once in the soil, it is absorbed by plants, and with them it can enter the body of animals and humans. After that it is difficult to get her out of there.
This substance can accumulate for years, and when it reacts with acid derivatives, it forms even more toxic compounds. Its extraordinary ability to evaporate causes serious poisoning not only when ingesting contaminated food, but also when inhaling its toxic fumes.
In a person whose body has been exposed to mercury in one form or another, signs of poisoning may appear within a few days. With prolonged exposure to mercury poisons, dysfunction of many organs occurs - liver, kidneys, lungs. Ultimately, this leads to the development of chronic diseases. Hitting a large dose of this toxic substance into the human body can lead to death. There are many similar cases in history.
One should not think that the small amount of mercury contained in a thermometer is incapable of causing dangerous effects. These few grams, if not eliminated promptly and correctly, can seriously poison everyone living in the contaminated room with their fumes.
Where should you take your mercury thermometer for recycling?
There is no complete order with the disposal of mercury thermometers and containers with collected mercury, even in big cities. There are stationary points and terminals for the collection of mercury-containing items, and in Moscow and St. Petersburg there are even vehicles designed for mobile collection of hazardous substances.
Old mercury thermometers should also be taken there, even if they are not damaged. If there are no such points nearby or their addresses are unknown, then you should choose one of the following options:
- Call the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The workers of this service are able to disinfect the apartment themselves. As a last resort, they will advise on how best to cope with the infection and suggest disposal addresses.
- You can hand over the collected remains of the thermometer and mercury to a clinic, sanitary and epidemiological station or the nearest pharmacy
- There are paid services that carry out disinfection, accept hazardous waste, and analyze indoor air after disposal.
In any case, it is worth checking for the presence of mercury vapor in the room where the thermometer was broken. No matter how carefully the metal is removed, there is still a chance that part of it remains undetected. The test will reveal the danger or convince you of its complete absence.
How is final disposal carried out?
After collecting waste containing mercury, it is sent to demercurization enterprises. There, mercury is converted into a state that is not dangerous to the environment.
The thermal method involves intensive evaporation of mercury in a specialized installation. At the end of the process, mercury vapor is captured in cooled traps.
Mercury waste is treated with reagents that convert pure mercury into slightly soluble ones chemical compounds, which are not poisonous.
According to environmental laws, throw away hazardous substances and the objects that contain them, in common places Garbage collection is prohibited. Where to throw away the mercury thermometer in this case, since it belongs specifically to such items? In this article you will find the answer to this question and many others regarding the disposal of hazardous mercury.
Where to dispose of a mercury thermometer?
Not every city can boast of having places for collection and recycling hazardous waste. As a rule, such points are located only in large cities. Often private companies do this, but they require payment for the services provided.
So where to submit mercury thermometer, if there are no environmental organizations or recycling centers in your city? In this case, you need to contact a pharmacy or clinic. These institutions, according to current legislation, must accept such items and continue to act as prescribed.
If the pharmacy and hospital refuse to accept the dangerous item, then you can call the employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
Important! Since the matter concerns mercury vapor that is harmful and dangerous to humans, the Ministry of Emergency Situations does not have the right to refuse to satisfy your request.
How to dispose of mercury? — Transportation rules
Deciding on the place where to take the mercury thermometer is still half the battle. It is also necessary to know how to properly collect and transport harmful liquid metal to its destination.
Important! If something irreparable happens and the thermometer breaks, don’t panic. It is necessary to immediately begin to eliminate the consequences.
Rules for collecting mercury:
- Remove all people and pets from the area where the incident occurred. Take care of children, pregnant women and the elderly first.
Important! This way you will not only protect your loved ones from the influence of harmful mercury vapors, but also prevent the spread of metal throughout the living space by transferring it on shoes or clothes.
- Use a side light to illuminate the place where the thermometer fell. Thus, droplets of liquid metal will be better visible.
Important! It is necessary to collect mercury from the periphery to the center.
- To prevent the balls from flying around and breaking into smaller pieces, eliminate any hint of draft.
- If the air temperature outside is significantly lower than inside the house, you should open a window to cool the room. Thus, the evaporation of metal vapors will not occur so quickly as the temperature decreases.
- Put on protective gloves on your hands and shoe covers on your shoes. Airways protect with a gauze bandage.
- Take two sheets of paper, use one as a scoop and the other as a brush.
Important! Never use a broom to collect mercury, as it will crush the balls into smaller pieces. fine particles and will spread them over a large area.
Vacuum cleaners are also prohibited. By using it, you will only contribute to the rapid evaporation of mercury and damage the device. After such use, the dust suction unit can no longer be used for its intended purpose.
- Suck in small mercury balls with a rubber bulb or syringe.
- Collect the smallest particles with the adhesive side of the tape or plaster.
Important! The collected mercury should be placed in a jar of water. Water will prevent the metal from evaporating.
How to pack collected metal?
- After cleaning, the jar with water and collected metal must be closed with a tight lid.
- Items that were used during the elimination of the “accident” should be collected in a thick plastic bag and handed over along with mercury and a broken thermometer.
Important! If mercury particles get on your clothing, do not wash the item in a washing machine. It is best to recycle such clothes.
- The entire room where the incident occurred must be treated with a disinfectant solution.
Important! Wet cleaning should be repeated several times within two weeks after the incident.
Where should you not throw the thermometer?
- Do not throw the mercury thermometer in the trash or down the garbage disposal with other household waste.
Important! Two grams of mercury contained in a thermometer can pollute six thousand cubic meters of air.
- You cannot dispose of mercury by flushing the metal down the toilet. Thus, the remaining gray liquid will settle in the pipes, and it will be almost impossible to remove it.
- It is better not to attempt to dispose of a mercury thermometer yourself. If you bury it in the ground or throw it into a river, you will greatly harm environment, and you will also have problems with the law.
Video material
The problem of a broken mercury thermometer is quite common, but unfortunately, not everyone knows what to do correctly in this situation. The opinion that nothing really bad will happen from such a small amount of metal is fundamentally wrong. It is possible that ailments and health problems will not appear immediately, but after a few years. Therefore, please take precautions for proper disposal. harmful substances. The best option for all people there would be a refusal of such unsafe medical items, as they have done for a long time the developed countries. But in our situation, whether to make our home an unsafe zone by having a mercury thermometer in our first aid kit or not is the concern of each of us.
Every person should know how to dispose of a mercury thermometer. Mercury is very dangerous for humans; touching it is fraught with serious consequences, especially for children. There are thermometers with it in almost every home.
1
It is best to always remember potential danger and prevent the possibility of damage to the thermometer and spreading of mercury. But sometimes disaster does happen, and a number of questions immediately arise: where to dispose of mercury, where to throw away thermometer fragments, and so on. You need to know the answers in advance.
Broken thermometer
Mercury is strong toxic substance. Coming from confined space thermometer into the air; at room temperature it immediately begins to evaporate. Inhalation of these vapors is extremely dangerous and entails serious consequences. If inhaled or swallowed for a long time (as can be expected from small child) failure to take immediate action can lead to death.
When inhaled, mercury vapor enters the lungs and then into the blood, further damaging those internal organs into which this blood enters. Mercury compounds are very difficult to remove from the body, so it is necessary to take all measures to prevent these compounds from entering it.
2
The first impulse may be to throw the mercury thermometer in the trash, but you need to know that under no circumstances should you do this! In the trash, the thermometer will most likely crack, the mercury will leak, and it is very likely that it will have time to cause irreparable harm to a person or animal before it evaporates. You may also think about disposing of the mercury thermometer yourself: burying it or breaking it and throwing it into the sewer. All these actions will probably protect former owner from danger, but will not protect others.
Used thermometer
A thermometer that has served its useful life needs to be disposed of. In this case, a used thermometer that has aroused suspicion must first be carefully wrapped in a plastic bag and placed in a glass jar with a solution of soda or potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate). Then the jar needs to be tightly closed nylon cover. It is recommended that the thermometer isolated in this way be taken to a pharmacy, where it is accepted and placed in a special container. You can always find out where to return the thermometer and where the nearest pharmacy is located at the help center. Or the thermometer can be taken to special center demercurization, if its location in the city is known.
3
As soon as the fact of a broken thermometer is established, it is necessary to urgently take safety measures:
- Remove all people and animals from the room; it is advisable to remove children from the apartment.
- In the room where the thermometer has broken, if possible, open the windows and close the doors to the room tightly.
- The gap under the door must be tightly plugged with a cloth soaked in a solution of soda or potassium permanganate. The remaining doors must also be closed to prevent drafts.
- Call the Ministry of Emergency Situations team and entrust the mercury disposal procedure to professionals.
Mercury after a broken thermometer
If for some reason it is impossible to call the Ministry of Emergency Situations, as well as to keep the windows open for a long time (so that the mercury completely evaporates and disappears), it is necessary to put the broken thermometer in a jar, as indicated above, collect droplets of mercury in it and tightly close it with a nylon lid. You can collect mercury on a piece of thick paper or using a syringe or bulb. It is imperative to use gloves and a gauze bandage, try to hold your breath if possible and not bring your hands and face close, as mercury vapor settles on the skin. The thermometer fragments are collected on adhesive tape or carefully with a rag. All this (including the rag) cannot be thrown away and must also be disposed of. The mercury collected in the container must be handed over to employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations or to the demercurization center.
In some exceptional cases, when it is impossible to hand over fragments of a thermometer with mercury elements somewhere (for example, in places remote from regional centers localities), it is necessary to temporarily preserve everything collected. A tightly closed glass container, which for safety can also be placed in an iron container (for example, a metal can with a lid), needs to be buried. It is necessary to choose a burial place so that you can easily find it and get to the buried one yourself, but random people or animals should not do this.
As soon as possible, the specified contents must be handed over for disposal or handed over to the Ministry of Emergency Situations. You should not leave such “treasures” in the ground or throw them away somewhere - you need to protect all living things and nature as a whole.
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