The Dangers of a Breaking of a CFB

Dangers

• Mercury is especially dangerous because it's easily absorbed into the body. It can be ingested, absorbed through the skin or inhaled into the lungs. Elemental mercury in liquid form, as found in CFLs, quickly vaporizes into a gas if exposed to air and will contaminate the area surrounding the broken bulb. Mercury inhalation is the most harmful form of mercury exposure.

Mercury Levels

• If a CFL were to break in a room with a volume of 25 cubic meters, airborne mercury would never reach damaging levels. The 5 milligrams of mercury contained in the CFL would vaporize almost immediately, creating a mercury concentration of about 0.2 milligrams per cubic meter, depending on air flow in the room, according to an example from Healthy Child Healthy World, a chemical awareness site. This level is below the mercury concentration of 0.5 milligrams per cubic meter set by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for workplace mercury exposure over eight hours. As air is exchanged in the room, mercury levels will decrease with time and should approach zero in a about an hour.

Proper Handling

• Even though mercury levels aren't hazardous, if a breakage occurs, immediately open all the windows in the room and turn off any central heating or cooling unit in the household. Then carefully wipe up all mercury and glass using a disposable paper towel with care not to get any on your hands. Allow the room to ventilate for at least an hour and keep all people and pets away.

Disposal

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends sealing the waste in a small plastic bag and bringing it to your local household hazardous waste collection facility. In many municipalities it's illegal to dispose of broken CFLs in curbside trash or recycling.