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How to Clean up a Small Mercury Spill
(a broken thermometer, thermostat or compact fluorescent bulb)
Step 1. Isolate the spill and ventilate the area right away.
The person who will clean up the spill should have everyone else, espe-
cially children, leave the spill area, including pets. Don’t let anyone
walk through the mercury on their way out.
Open all windows and doors that open to the outside of the house.
Close all doors between the room where the mercury was spilled and the
rest of the house.
Close all cold air returns so that mercury vapor is not carried throughout
the house.
Turn down heaters and turn up single-room air conditioners, but don’t use
central air conditioning.
Use fans to blow mercury-contaminated air outside. Turn off fans that do
not blow air to the outside.
Step 2: Get the items needed to clean up a small mercury spill.
You will need the following items:
1. 4 or 5 zipper-top plastic bags
2. trash bags (2 to 6 mm thick)
3. rubber, nitrile or latex gloves
4. paper towels
5. cardboard or squeegee
6. eye dropper
7. duct tape, or shaving cream and small paint brush
8. flashlight
9. powdered sulfur (optional)
Step 3: Cleanup Instructions
Put on rubber, nitrile or latex gloves.
Pick up any broken pieces of glass and place them on a paper towel. Fold
the paper towel, place it in a zipper-top bag, and seal the bag.
Clean up the beads of mercury. Use a squeegee or cardboard to slowly
roll the beads onto a sheet of paper. An eye dropper can also be used to
collect the beads. Slowly squeeze mercury from the eye dropper onto a
damp paper towel. Put the paper towel, paper, eye dropper, or anything
else that has mercury on it, into a zipper-top bag, and seal the bag.
After you remove larger beads, put shaving cream on top of a small paint
brush and gently blot the affected area to pick up smaller hard-to-see
beads. You can also use duct tape or masking tape to collect smaller
hard-to-see beads. Place the paint brush or tape into a zipper-top bag.