Guidelines for Handling Major Mercury Spillage

In our latest blog post, we covered the procedures that must be considered for a major mercury spillage. We must make clear from the beginning, that these procedures need to be implemented by trained professionals.

This post is intended to provide the reader with insight into how specialist cleaning companies approach large scale mercury removal and decontamination scenarios.

If you are not professionally trained to safely and effectively remove mercury, please do not attempt to carry out any parts of this procedure yourself.

What is mercury and how to identify its presence?

Mercury, also known as hydrargyrum, is a chemical element (symbol Hg). It’s a heavy metal chemical and is one of the only two liquid metals from the periodic table, which can also act as a liquid at room temperature (the other one is halogen bromine). Due to its fast movement, mercury is also referred to as quicksilver.

If you have an old thermometer or an old barometer, these are common instruments that are known to contain mercury. However, you may be surprised at how many everyday instruments, devices and appliances contain and utilise mercury, e.g. home appliances such as washing machines and dryers, some automotive parts such as sensors for airbags and seatbelts, LCD screens and monitors.

Mercury can be identified by its shiny silver surface and liquid form. However, liquid mercury can turn into vapour/gas, which is unidentifiable to the naked eye. Professional cleaning companies invest in specialised equipment, a Mercury Vapour Indicator (MVI), that allows them to detect the levels of mercury contamination in the air.

Sometimes, the presence of soft metals like gallium can be mistaken for mercury. If you experience a mercury spillage and are unsure of the substance, contact the experts who have the specialist equipment to safely identify a substance. The process of how to discard mercury and how to recycle mercury is a professional job, don’t ever try to attempt it by yourself.

How mercury effects human health

Mercury (in liquid metal form) can instantly be absorbed into the human skin by touching it. If mercury is exposed or released from containers, it can disperse metal into the air in no time. Mercury sticks to clothing and gets absorbed by touch or when inhaled.

If you accidentally touch mercury, it can irritate the skin and, in some cases, might result in a chemical burn.

If a person is exposed to high levels of mercury, it can result in mercury poisoning, which in turn affects the heart, kidneys, lungs and brain. Mercury poisoning also adversely affects the human body’s immune system.

Based on factors such as duration and mode of mercury exposure, the severity and type of symptoms differ.

If there is a major mercury spillage (mercury spills that are over 10 grams), it’s important to react at the earliest. Personal health and safety, and the health and safety of others should take precedence. Call a professional cleaning company that is accredited and has experience with mercury removal and decontamination, because disposing of mercury requires trained professionals.

Ideal Response provides a rapid and emergency response service for major mercury spills and will reach the site within 2 hours of receiving the call. We provide top-notch mercury disposal services.

Buildings/Industries with elevated mercury levels:

Below is a short list of buildings and industries that use instruments or equipment that contain large amounts of mercury.  

They include, but are not limited to:

• Museums – Ancient biofacts like bones can produce tiny droplets of mercury (vapour), when inhaled turn poisonous. They must be disinfected timely to prevent the contamination of the surrounding area.
• Lighthouses – It is common for large lighthouses to use Fresnel lenses, which utilise mercury baths as a low-friction rotation mechanism. These mercury baths can suffer damage over time and subsequently can release mercury, causing contamination to the lighthouse.
• Dental Surgeries – Almost 50% of dental amalgam is made of liquid mercury, the other half is powdered alloy of silver, tin and copper. Due to the volume of dental amalgam used, it is quite common for accidents and contamination to occur.
• Hospitals – A variety of instruments and equipment are used in hospitals that contain liquid mercury. Accidentally broken instruments or equipment malfunctions cause the mercury to escape and result in contamination.

Large-scale mercury spill procedure:

There are four key components to a large-scale mercury spill procedure, which are listed below:

• The health and safety of the public and technicians working on the job
• Enabling of work to commence consists of access procedures, containment, removal and contamination migration
• The process of decontamination
• The reporting of results with certifications

Let’s delve deeper into each one of them.

Health and safety

The health and safety of the public, technicians and other site operators must be the number one priority of any professional cleaning company.

If you’re a customer, ensure that you receive and review the risk assessments and safety procedures outlined by the company that you have hired to do the job. The risk assessment is often abbreviated to RAMS, which is short for ‘Risk Assessment and Method Statement’.

At Ideal Response, we ensure the health and safety of any individual accessing the affected environment.

Preparation of the infrastructure

To carry out the decontamination process effectively, the initial step is to prepare the site for work, At Ideal Response, we consider the following factors in this procedure:

• Access and egress: An assessment must be carried out to mitigate any identified risks and safety hazards to the location in question. The environment must be made safe and part of that process is ensuring there is proper access and egress. Appropriate signage and cordons (if necessary) must be set up to protect the public.
• Containment: The affected area(s) must be made inaccessible to prevent contamination from spreading to other areas of the building. To achieve this, our team of technicians will construct an abatement enclosure around the affected area. This greatly reduces the chances of cross-contamination. Our trained professionals know every step diligently on how to discard mercury, safely.
• Positive air pressure: To safely remove any mercury vapours from the air, our technicians implement and use positive pressure systems to replace contaminated air with clean air.
• Removal and contamination migration: After a mercury-related incident, it is necessary to remove the floor coverings and investigate for affected areas. The safe disposal of these materials must be factored into the process.

Process of decontamination:

The process of decontamination is one of the crucial steps and our trained professionals are always ready to dispose of the mercury spillage from the affected area by following all the needed safety protocols. The complete process of decontamination is portrayed with an example, below:

Example of a decontamination process:

• Technicians must attend site induction (if required) and permits obtained (if required) before the commencement of the work
• Segregate the clean and dirty areas on the site. The clean area is for technicians to keep their personal protective equipment (PPE) The dirty area is for the technicians to remove/discard their PPE
• Technicians must wear the required PPE before entering the work area
• Ensure the contaminated area is isolated from any supplies used
• Implement an exhaust ventilation system to safely remove mercury vapours within the contaminated area
• Depending on the environment, set up an exclusion zone to prevent any unauthorised entry
• Set up the mercury monitor within the work area
• Using a puffer ball, safely remove mercury from contaminated surfaces
• Decant mercury into a mercury container from a puffer ball
• Containers to be sealed and ready for safe transport
• Amalgam collection kits must be used to remove any remaining traces of mercury within the affected work area. A scoop can also be used to collect any mercury globules together, so that they merge into larger globules, making them easier to collect.
• Carefully tip out the calcium hydroxide and sulphur to the area of the spillage
• Surrounding areas must also be decontaminated
• Install a mercury spill kit for any potential future mercury spills

Post-completion results and certification

A customer should expect to see the completion of the work report, preferably accompanied by before and after MVI readings. At Ideal Response, we provide an MVI Certification and a Hygiene Certificate on completion of the work.

Have you experienced a mercury spill?

Mercury spills require immediate attention and expert handling to prevent hazardous risks. Our highly trained Ideal Response team ensures your environment is decontaminated and safe for use. Call us for a free estimate.