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Mercury in
Schools
Problems Caused in School
Problems that result from incidents with mercury
in schools vary. A school incident can affect a wide variety of
school personnel: not only students, but teachers,
administrators, and response personnel who must handle the initial incident,
deal with school
closures, high cleanup costs, negative press, and upset
parents. While most incidents involve students bringing
elemental mercury into schools, there are occupational risks for
school personnel who handle mercury-containing products.
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Personnel such as teachers, school nurses, janitors, fleet,
HVAC and maintenance personnel, are most likely to come in contact
with mercury. They face risks when removing,
installing, storing, transporting, or disposing of mercury
compounds or mercury-containing
products.
Janitors and
cleaning personnel face an additional risk from
certain cleaning products (e.g. chlorine-based bleaches and
soaps) which may have had mercury used in their manufacturing
process with
some mercury remaining in the product. While the occupational health risk is not as high
as with other products, cleaning crews should take the
same precautions as when handling any potentially toxic cleaning
product (wearing gloves, masks, proper ventilation). An
alternative is to order mercury-free products.
Mercury in Schools Resources
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