What to do if an energy-saving lamp crashes?

What is the danger of damage?

The flask of the so-called "housekeepers" contains small amounts of mercury. If in your house an energy-saving light bulb accidentally crashes (for example, it bursts), this can endanger life.

To help you understand how terrible mercury poisoning is, here are a few meanings and facts:

• The maximum permissible concentration (MPC) of mercury in the atmosphere should not exceed 0,0003 mg / m³.
• The bulb of an energy-saving small lamp may contain up to 7 mg of a harmful substance.
• For a normal room, the MPC can increase by 160-200 times if an incident occurs.
• The poison vapors are odorless, which further aggravates the situation (you will not hear anything if destruction occurs).
• Among the main symptoms of the lesion are: dizziness, weakness, lack of appetite. Mercury vapor adversely affects the liver, kidneys, and nervous system. With large volumes of harmful substances, even death can be a consequence.

As you can see, it’s scary if the energy-saving fluorescent lamp crashes. That is why it is immediately necessary to proceed to independent demercurization of the bulb.

For you to know, demercurization is called the elimination of mercury pollution in a chemical, physical and physico-chemical way.

How to get rid of mercury?

Instructions on how to remove a fluorescent lamp that has crashed are as follows:

1. Ventilate the room for 15 minutes. It should be noted right there that use such sources of light in unventilated rooms it is highly not recommended, precisely because there is no possibility of natural ventilation.
2. Protect your hands with rubber gloves to collect splinters.
3. Using strong paper (such as cardboard), collect all the glass in a plastic bag.
4. The phosphor powder contained inside the flask is collected with a wet rag or masking tape.
5. Wet clean using Domestos or White.
6. Collect all the fragments, cleaning materials (gloves, rags, napkins) in one bag and take them to a company that specializes in the processing of fluorescent lamps.
7. Call home specialists to check the mercury concentration in the apartment.

That's the whole cleaning technology. Very important nuancethat you must remember - it is strictly forbidden to throw away fragments of an energy-saving lamp that crashed into a garbage chute or sewer.In this case, you will harm the atmosphere of our planet and also endanger people who may become victims of poisoning.

We also draw your attention to the fact that demercurization can be carried out independently, or you can urgently call a specialized service. In the latter case, you just need to call 112 and explain what happened.

Well, the last thing I would like to note on this topic is that if an energy-saving lamp crashes, in no case do not use a vacuum cleaner or brush for cleaning. Only a damp washcloth and a cardboard “spatula”.

On the video, the expert tells what to do if an energy-saving light bulb crashes:

How to avoid poisoning?

Today, there are light bulbs in which mercury is not present in its natural state, but in the form of an amalgam (solution with metals). In this case, if an energy-saving lamp crashes, it will not be scary for your health.

Among such products, the Camelion Classic LH30-AS-M / 827 / E27 model is popular, although other companies, for example, Osram, use this technology.

That's all I wanted to tell you about mercury poisoning and demercurization at home. We hope that now you have fully learned what to do if an energy-saving lamp crashes!

Also read:

• How to unscrew a bursting bulb from a cartridge
• How to dispose of energy-saving lamps
• How to protect yourself from electromagnetic radiation
• How to remove a spotlight