How to dilute potassium permanganate if a thermometer breaks. What to do if a mercury thermometer in your apartment is broken? Symptoms of mercury poisoning
Demercurization is the removal and neutralization of mercury, cleaning the premises from its traces and eliminating mercury contamination.
We draw your attention to three points:
I. Before reading For these instructions, please read the article. Because the main thing is BEFORE When treating a contaminated area, you first need to be very careful and correct COLLECT the mercury itself.
II. All further advice applies to eliminating the consequences of minor mercury contamination (for example, from a broken thermometer). But even in this case and, even more so, in case of serious pollution (when a large quantity was spilled mercury) it will be better if demercurization is carried out by accredited specialists. Don't risk your health!
III. Now let’s talk about how to eliminate the consequences of mercury pollution.
After mercury from a broken thermometer correctly and carefully assembled, it is necessary to treat the site of the mercury spill with a concentrated solution of potassium permanganate and (or) bleach (in common parlance - bleach). This will oxidize the mercury and render it non-volatile (the purpose of this is to prevent harmful health effects).
Attention! Cleaning with bleach more preferred compared to the use of potassium permanganate, since chlorine is more chemically active and will therefore react more effectively with mercury.
Demercurization option No. 1: Cleaning the contaminated area using potassium permanganate
1. An aqueous solution of potassium permanganate should be dark brown, almost opaque.
The solution may leave residue on the floor or things. indelible stains!
Per liter of solution you need to add 1 tbsp. l. salts and some acid (for example, 1 tablespoon of vinegar essence, or a pinch of citric acid, or a spoonful of rust remover).
2. Treat the contaminated surface (and all its crevices!) the resulting solution using a brush, broom or spray bottle.
Leave the applied solution for 1-2 hours, periodically wetting the treated surface with water as the solution dries.
3. Then wash off the reaction products soap and soda solution(for 1 liter of water - 40 g of soap and 50 g of soda).
Repeat this procedure over the next few days, with the only difference being that you keep the potassium permanganate solution for less time, and not 1-2 hours.
Demercurization option No. 2: Cleaning the contaminated area using bleach
Demercurization using bleach takes place in 2 stages.
Stage 1: in a plastic (not metal!) container, prepare a solution of CHLORINE-containing bleach “Belizna” at the rate of 1 liter of “Belizna” per 5 liters of water (17% solution). Please note that there is also OXYGEN-containing “Whiteness” on sale, but it will not work! Using the resulting solution, using a sponge, brush or cloth, rinse the contaminated surface. Pay special attention to the cracks of parquet and baseboards.
Leave the applied solution for 15 minutes, then rinse clean water.
Stage 2: Re-washing the floor with a chlorine-containing solution is best done several times over the next 2-3 weeks.
Because When the solution is first used, it becomes contaminated with mercury; it is better not to pour it into the sink or toilet, but to hand it over along with the collected mercury. The same goes for rags, etc. How, why and where -.
Don’t forget about ventilating the room. But keep in mind that at low temperatures (when the room is constantly “frozen out” through a wide open window), the evaporation of mercury drops sharply, i.e. it evaporates more slowly from the room. Therefore, the ideal option is to keep the window slightly open for a long time.
DEMERCURIZATION
When monitoring the functional state of a patient, for diagnostic purposes, to prevent nosocomial infections, measuring a person’s body temperature using a “thermometer” - a medical thermometer - is used. But a medical thermometer can also be a major source of mercury contamination.
Mercury was known to people already in the 2nd millennium BC. Alchemists called it Mercurius, thereby emphasizing its closeness to the king of metals - gold. The planet Mercury is located closest to the Sun, whose symbol is gold.
Demercurization- removal of mercury and its compounds by physical-chemical or mechanical methods in order to prevent poisoning of people. The accident site where the thermometer broke is treated with a demercurutizer solution.
Demercutizers- This chemicals, the use of which reduces the rate of mercury evaporation and facilitates mechanical removal mercury
Demercutizers include:
- soap-soda solution (4% soap solution in 5% aqueous soda solution);
- 0.2% aqueous solution of potassium permanganate, acidified with hydrochloric acid (5 ml of acid, specific gravity 1.19, per 1 liter of potassium permanganate solution);
- 20% bleach solution;
- 5-10% solution hydrochloric acid etc.
Laying composition for demercurization
Emergency situation - the thermometer broke
Nurse tactics:
1. Remove people from the room where the thermometer broke.
2. Put on special clothing.
3. Prepare a demercutant solution: 40 g of shavings laundry soap+ 50 g of soda ash + 1 liter of water (temperature 50 0 C).
4. The prepared demercurization solution is poured into a container marked “For demercurization.” The mercury is collected from the contaminated surface with an adhesive bandage. An adhesive plaster with mercury and a broken thermometer are soaked completely immersed in containers with a demercutant solution and closed with a lid.
5. The prepared soap-soda solution is poured into the place where the thermometer broke; exposure 30 minutes.
6. After 30 minutes, the room is routinely cleaned and the room is ventilated.
7. A container containing mercury in a soap and soda solution is handed over to the head nurse.
EMERGENCY DEMERCURIZATION IN HOUSEHOLD CONDITIONS
Mercury belongs to the 1st class of hazard substances, has a good ability to evaporate, so its vapors are especially harmful, and of course, long-term stay in rooms contaminated with mercury vapors is not safe for health. The most common sources of mercury contamination in residential areas are broken thermometers and fluorescent lamps. We present the sequence of actions when carrying out demercurization using the example of a broken thermometer.
1. Take everyone out of the apartment, especially children, and 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.
3. Cover the area where the mercury has scattered with wet newspapers. Collect all things (clothes, linen, carpets, etc.) that could have been exposed to drops of mercury. plastic bags and take it out to the balcony or garage.
4. Close the door to the room where the thermometer was broken, leaving open window. 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 apartment.
In order to do demercurization on your own, you need to prepare:
Glass jar (100-400 ml) with a tight lid to collect mercury and contaminated materials;
Gauze bandage or respirator;
- large plastic bags for collecting items that may be contaminated;
- a thick needle or knitting needle, a medical syringe, a bulb with a thin tip;
- medical cotton wool, pieces of plaster, a sheet of thick paper, rags;
- rubber gloves;
- table lamp with extension cord;
- chemicals with oxidizing (disinfecting or bleaching) properties and containing chlorine compounds (chlorinol, assortment, whiteness, etc.). Potassium permanganate or iodine solution may be useful from the first aid kit.
Trying not to trample or spread the mercury around the apartment.
It is better to wear clothes from synthetic materials(sports jacket or windbreaker) it is less contaminated with mercury vapor.
The most important and difficult part of demercurization is the collection of mercury droplets.
Do not wipe spilled mercury with a rag (this will only lead to further fragmentation of the mercury). We do not recommend using a vacuum cleaner for this. Firstly, the vacuum cleaner heats up and increases the evaporation of mercury, and secondly, air passes through the engine of the vacuum cleaner, and an amalgam is formed on the engine parts, which are made of non-ferrous metals, after which the vacuum cleaner itself becomes a distributor of mercury vapor.
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. If mercury gets on the carpet or carpeting, then you need to carefully roll up the carpet, from the periphery to the center, so that the mercury balls do not scatter throughout the room.
It is advisable to place the carpet in a whole plastic bag or simply wrap it in plastic film, also from the periphery to the center, and take it outside. Then hang up the carpet or carpeting, and lay a cellophane film underneath it to prevent mercury from contaminating the soil and knock out the carpet with gentle blows. It is also necessary to let the carpet or carpet hang and ventilate in the fresh air for 3 - 3.5 months in the warm season after shaking it out vigorously. Mechanical and chemical methods of demercurization of soft things are not effective.
Do not take the shoes in which you walked around the room where mercury was spilled outside of this room, and if you do take it out, then only in a plastic bag or sealed container, since particles of mercury attach to your feet and you can spread the mercury throughout the apartment.
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; large drops are collected with a rubber bulb. For this purpose, 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 better visible, the surface to be cleaned should be illuminated from the side with a table lamp. Pieces of plaster can be used to collect the smallest drops. Droplets of mercury can be collected using paper napkins soaked in ordinary sunflower oil. The mercury beads will stick to the oily area. You can also soak newspaper in water and apply the resulting slurry to the site of the mercury spill.
Everything collected and what was used to collect it (a rubber bulb, an adhesive plaster, a broken thermometer) is placed in an enamel or glass container filled with a demercutant solution and tightly closed with a lid. The collected mercury can be handed over to the local sanitary and epidemiological inspection (they can also be invited to analyze the air for the presence of mercury vapor).
As a last resort, a patch, napkin, or newspaper with adhering drops can be placed in a jar of water. . When stirred, the paper will float and the mercury will settle to the bottom. 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 (bulb with a thin tip). If there is a suspicion that mercury has got behind the baseboard or under the floorboards of the parquet, they must be removed without fail. Sometimes collecting mercury can take several hours, so every 10 - 15 minutes you should take breaks and go out to 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 are OBLIGED to accept it from you.
After all visible drops of mercury have been collected, contaminated items, including those in which work was carried out, have been removed from the premises, you can proceed to the second stage of work - chemical demercurization.
As already mentioned, you can use chemicals available at home for this. Most accessible remedy For demercurization, which is available in every first aid kit, this is “potassium permanganate”; a soap-soda solution is also suitable. The greatest effectiveness is achieved by alternate use of both agents. To prepare a 0.2% aqueous solution of potassium permanganate, you need to dissolve 20 g of it in a bucket of water. 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. Next, using a brush, a brush, or a spray bottle, you should apply the solution to the place where the mercury was collected, paying special attention to the cracks where you can pour a small amount of the solution. Work should be carried out with rubber gloves. 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 a soap (soap-soda solution (4% soap in a 5% aqueous soda solution) and wet clean the entire apartment. This activity should be carried out over the next few days, with the only difference being that the solution " leave potassium permanganate for 1 hour, not 6-8 hours.
Another most harmless and affordable way demercurization of premises is as follows: the walls and floor are treated with a 1% iodine solution (for 1 liter of water, 100 ml of a 10% iodine solution, which is sold in a pharmacy). After 30 minutes, the area is treated with the following solution: copper sulfate CuSO 4 (30 g of copper sulfate per 1 liter of water), sodium sulfite Na 2 SO 3 · 7H 2 O (180 g per 1 liter of water) and sodium bicarbonate NaHCO 3 (baking soda, 40 g per 1 liter of water). The solution is prepared in the following way: first, copper sulfate and sodium sulfite are mixed with water until the precipitate is completely dissolved, and then baking soda is added.
Contaminated surfaces are also treated (washed) aqueous solution bleach, chloramine or any chlorine-containing detergent. Wash starts from the periphery and ends with the most contaminated areas of the surface. The procedure is repeated for 4–5 days in a row, once every day. For each subsequent procedure, use a new rag. Don't use the same rag twice.
Further measures are preventive in nature. These are daily wet cleaning premises and frequent ventilation. Experience shows that if you carefully follow the 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 devices will not be superfluous.
Indication of the degree of contamination is carried out using palladium indicator paper, as well as using special instruments. Old devices of the AGP series (AGP - 01; AGP - 01 M, etc.). Now measurements are carried out using more modern device RA 915+.
ATTENTION!
Most cases of mercury spills from broken medical thermometers indoors are due to the carelessness of children!
Keep mercury-containing devices out of the reach of children.
Measure children's temperature using a mercury thermometer only under the constant supervision of an adult.
Excerpt - Sanitary and epidemiological rules and regulations SanPiN 2.1.3.2630-10.
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Many still have it in their homes mercury thermometer- he shows much more accurately and never lies. Everything would be fine, but the fear of breaking the thermometer haunts me as soon as I pick it up. However, there is nothing wrong with this, it is only important to follow a few rules.
- Leave children and animals in the room. Mercury easily sticks to soles or fur, so don't take the risk.
- Collect mercury with a vacuum cleaner. Firstly, hot air will speed up its evaporation. Secondly, mercury particles will settle on the insides of the vacuum cleaner, it will turn into a breeding ground for toxic substances.
- Sweep mercury. The hard bristles of a broom or brush will crush the mercury into small, barely noticeable drops.
- Use a rag. She will rub the mercury across the floor, increasing the affected area.
- Flush down the drain/dispose of in a garbage chute. The mercury will not reach the treatment station, but will settle on the pipes, poisoning everyone around. The same thing will happen if you throw it into the trash chute or trash heap.
- Create a draft. Mercury vapor will scatter throughout the living space.
- Trying to save clothes that have been exposed to mercury. Metal will end up in the drain or drum washing machine. Recycle your clothes along with the collected mercury.
What to do if the thermometer breaks
The most The main rule is don't panic. A broken thermometer is not fatal, and you won’t have to move. Officially, the process of collecting mercury is called demercurization - everything is serious, but not at all scary.
- Remove from room all strangers and turn off everything increases air temperature. You can open the window, but it is important to ensure that there is no draft.
- Change into things you won't mind throwing away. Give preference to materials that do not absorb anything. Put on your hands rubber gloves, on the face - cloth bandage, on your feet - shoe covers.
- Prepare a container with a solution of chlorine-containing bleach “Belizna” (at the rate of 1 liter of “Belizna” 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.
- Take a wet brush, a syringe with a thin needle, thick cardboard,adhesive plaster And capacity with water or solution from step 3 with a lid. Pull medium and small balls into a syringe, roll large ones onto a piece of cardboard with a brush and pour into a jar. Remove the smallest ones with adhesive tape, carefully gluing them to the surface. Collection of drops - from the periphery to the center of the room.
- Take flashlight- mercury reflects well. Use it to find the remaining balls and remove them. It's best to roll them out of the cracks metal needle. Tear off the baseboard and also pack it in a tight bag for later disposal.
- All things that came into contact with metal collect in a bag and tie tightly. Seal the jar with the collected mercury and the remains of the thermometer tightly.
- Wipe all surfaces in contact with mercury with a solution of “Whiteness” and leave for 15 minutes, then rinse with clean water. For more complete demercurization, you can then treat them with a solution of potassium permanganate (if available).
- Call the Ministry of Emergency Situations by phone 112 and ask about the nearest opportunity to recycle mercury.
- Wash thoroughly, rinse your mouth several times soda solution and take a few pills activated carbon for disinfection. Close the room where the thermometer was broken from visitors for a week, leaving one window open. Regularly disinfect the floor with a solution of “Whiteness”. And drink more fluids.
- ! If mercury gets on a fabric surface or somewhere where it is impossible to collect it, then in such cases it will be impossible 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. On outdoors The mercury begins to evaporate, which makes the thermometer a rather dangerous thing.
Symptoms of mercury poisoning:
- 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 worsen:
- bleeding gums;
- stomach ache;
- loose stools with mucous and blood inclusions;
- a sharp increase in 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 it can lead to irreparable damage.
The first aid that can be provided for mercury poisoning is to take absorbents and plenty of plain water.
