Study finds mercury in fluorescent lamp recycling containers unsafe
NUCON International Inc., the Ohio based gas, vapour and liquid phase adsorption solutions provider has announced the results of recent tests to determine the levels of mercury vapour that accumulate in mercury lamp storage and shipping containers when lamps inside the containers are broken. The study concluded that mercury vapour levels within containers containing broken fluorescent lamps exceed health and safety exposure limits and guidelines.
NUCON’s test results indicated that opening a package containing broken fluorescent lamps and/or CFLs presents a significant risk of mercury vapour exposure, potentially rising well above both the OSHA 8-hour permissible exposure limit of 100 ug/m3 and the NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) IDLH (immediately dangerous to life and health) level of 10,000 ug/m3.
NUCON says they also ran parallel tests using a new adsorbent substrate technology called VaporLokCAPTURE, developed in conjunction with VaporLok Products LLC, and achieved more than 95 percent mercury vapour reduction within the same containers.
