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Mercury
Instruments USA has been in business for 23 years and is a
leading supplier of state of the art mercury detection
equipment. We provide mercury clean up, mercury decontamination,
mercury vapor screening, mercury device removal, mercury
awareness training, mercury education and mercury evaluations.
Sources
of elemental mercury (Hg0) include old natural
gas regulators, manometers, sphygmomanometers,
thermometers, and thermostats. Causes of
mercury
spills include improper storage, container
breakage, children playing with mercury, the
breakage of devices containing mercury, and
ritualistic use of mercury. Inhalation is the
primary exposure route for Hg. Elemental mercury is a heavy, silvery metal element that is a liquid at room temperature. Liquid mercury evaporates at room temperature and these vapors are invisible, odorless, and, at high levels, they are very toxic. Mercury is unique among the toxic metals since more information is available concerning the toxic effects of mercury on humans than is available from animal studies. The ancients realized mercury was toxic and assigned the task of mining quicksilver to slaves and prisoners. The average life span of miners was 3 years. In 1665 the workday was reduced to 6 hours in the Adriatic quicksilver mines. By the 1800s mercuric nitrate was widely used to soften fur for hats. The resulting exposure of workers lead to a classic syndrome and the phrase "mad as a hatter." In Danbury, Connecticut, a center of hat making, the effects of exposure were characterized as "Danbury Shakes." It was not until 1941 that the use of mercury nitrate in hat making was banned in most states. Mercury is used today in barometers, mercury switches, and fungicide resistant paint, the manufacturing of mirrors, batteries, mercury vapor lamps, and fluorescent light bulbs, in analytical chemistry, and in some pharmaceuticals. Elemental mercury is a silver colored, highly mobile liquid at room temperature. It is toxic by ingestion, inhalation and skin absorption. Inhalation is the primary route of occupational exposure. About 80% of inhaled mercury vapor passes into the blood stream. Soluble mercury salts such as mercuric chloride and mercuric oxides are highly toxic. Service products containing mercury include mercury switches, mercury vapor lamps, mercury containing paint and fluorescent light bulbs. Mercury is regulated as a hazardous waste and each of these products must be disposed of in a accordance with state environmental regulations. In most states both fluorescent light bulbs and mercury vapor lamps can be stored on site (provided certain procedures are followed) and recycled. Broken lamps and bulbs can result in exposure.
Shining a light on hazards of fluorescent bulbs - Energy-efficient coils booming, but disposal of mercury poses problem
Compact fluorescent light bulbs, long touted by environmentalists as a more efficient and longer-lasting alternative to the incandescent bulbs that have lighted homes for more than a century, are running into resistance from waste industry officials and some environmental scientists, who warn that the bulbs’ poisonous innards pose a bigger threat to health and the environment than previously thought.