Mercury is a highly toxic substance found in many workplaces. You need to put in place a system to protect employees and others against exposure and ensure compliance with OSHA (or if your workplace is in Canada, WHMIS) laws and standards. Last week, in Part 1 of this series, we discussed how to conduct a survey to identify the presence of mercury-containing devices and materials at your workplace.

Now we look at a second key component of a mercury exposure control strategy: Handling mercury spills and cleanups. There's also a set of model instructions in Tools telling your supervisors what to do when spills occur that you can access if you're a SafetyXChange member.

The Mercury Hazard

Although it summons up images of thermometers, mercury is found in a wide range of devices and substances commonly found in workplaces including fluorescent light bulbs, paints and batteries. Mercury can leak from these devices and materials. Because of its unique physical properties, mercury is tricky to cleanup. That's a problem because an improper cleanup can turn a bad situation into an even more serious health hazard.

That's why it's important to instruct your supervisors and department heads how to react to spills.

How to Create Spill Instructions

Your instructions should cover the following points:

• Isolation of the Spill Area. If there's been an accidental spill, the work area in which the spill occurs should be immediately isolated and entry forbidden. If the spill occurs indoors, windows should be opened and the central ventilation system shut down so that vapors from the spill area don't spread to other parts of the facility. Clothing and footwear of people in the area should be checked for contamination so they don't spread it into other areas.
• Notification. Somebody should notify the safety director immediately after the spill. This will allow for prompt and appropriate cleanup by trained personnel using proper PPE including gloves and SCBA-type respirators.
• Cleanup. Don't let people who don't know what they're doing try and cleanup the spill. The safety director should have an on-call list of personnel trained to perform cleanup operations.

Conclusion

Controlling mercury hazards is a complex challenge that calls for a combination of administrative and engineering measures. Identifying potential sources of contamination and establishing cleanup procedures are two important parts of an effective strategy. Hopefully, these two stories and the corresponding Tools will make it easier for you to implement your program.

STRANGE BUT TRUE SAFETY FACTS

Site of the 2003 Take-Your-Toy-Gun-to-Work-Day Fiasco.

Tale of the Toy Gun

On October 30, 2003, the U.S. Congress's General Accounting Office published a study saying that it had found little evidence to suggest that toy guns have any relationship to crime. That same day, the U.S. Capitol building had to be locked down for an hour as SWAT teams conducted a manhunt for what turned out to be two Congressional employees who had brought toy guns to work as part of their Halloween costumes.

SafetyXChange thanks board member Richard Hawk for contributing this little tale.

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