What should you do if..........

Re: What should you do if..........

Nick Shackleton — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:48:29 GMT

[quote user="Toadster"]

You can get pre-prepared spill kits from your normal veterinary supplies wholesaler. Other than that, you can make one up to include PPE and, say cat litter, (one practice I know does this). Whatever you do, don't play with the mercury - it's nasty stuff (despite saying this, as I am ancient so pre-H&S regulations, when I was a school we played with it in science lessons and I am still here...tho Mad as a Hatter (mercury poisoning perhaps?!?!?!?)

[/quote]

I used to have a mercury maze as a kid

Lewis Carroll gets the idea of the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland from the hatters who used to glue felt together with mercury, which sent them crazy!

Re: What should you do if..........

Alison Clare Hickman — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 18:23:22 GMT

Re: What should you do if..........

Sarah Southworth RVN CertVNECC — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 16:14:32 GMT

i have not known one yet (touch wood) either, but wondered what to do if there was one. At least now i know

Re: What should you do if..........

xhappysvn21x — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 13:26:58 GMT

we have sand, encase of volatile gas spillage, think we were told to after a inspection, never been used, never had spill. ( now touching wood) ;)

Re: What should you do if..........

Sarah Southworth RVN CertVNECC — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:01:51 GMT

thanks would love to know what should be done rather than what we do,

Re: What should you do if..........

Suze — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 10:21:14 GMT

Am going to veterinary health and safety course next week......will ask them about this!

Re: What should you do if..........

Sal the 1st — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:19:08 GMT

just found this

http://www.research.ucsf.edu/bt/Emer/rcHazMatSpill.asp

Re: What should you do if..........

Sal the 1st — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:06:32 GMT

[quote user="Olive Tree"]

And whats the protocol for cleaning up after shattering a mercury thermometer?!

[/quote]

There are specific mercury spills kits for this.

http://www.guest-medical.co.uk/spill/mercury/mercury.html

Re: What should you do if..........

Sal the 1st — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:04:07 GMT

have never used sand on spills but have used wood based cat litter and we do have cat litter in our spills kit - I know because I put it there.

Re isoflo have never dropped a bottle but have been in a practice where a halothane bottle bounced and smashed. - rightly or wrongly ( I am sure someone will tell me somewhere I was wrong?) this is what we did - vacated the room quickly leaving external doors and windows open and the scavenger running, all other connecting doors with theatre /prep were closed to prevent as much as we could vapour entering other rooms. We didnt use any absorbant on the spill as we figured this would prolong the problem by slowing down evaporation/vapourisation. Once we could see through the window that any liquid was gone and we couldnt smell halothane (which didnt take long at all) still leaving the doors and windows open and with one person clearing and one person to keep an eye on them in case, the broken glass was cleared away and suitably disposed of. we did speak to somebody from the fire brigade after this just to see what their advice would have been and we were told that leaving it to vapourise maybe would have increased the chance of ignition but by getting out pronto we had reduced our chances of injury from inhalation but that if we had used an absorbant and then removed it to the outside then we would have increased our chances of injury through inhalation and as halothane is a solvent would have had to attempt safe disposal of absorbant in something that wouldnt be attacked- so we never really got a straight answer.

Re: What should you do if..........

NJ_VN — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:04:06 GMT

[quote user="Stuart McQueen RVN MBVNA"]

I would stand in the room and take a few deep breaths... I love the smell of iso... (I'm joking... about standing in the room...)

We have a spill bucket in the prep and dispensary... with a brush and shovel and some sand to put over these spills... when cleaning them up...

I don't think we have a protocol about it... but I'll have a look and post it here for you...

Stux

[/quote]

Haha im so glad im not the only one who likes the smell of iso! i got very strange looks when i said so at practice!

Re: What should you do if..........

Nick Shackleton — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:01:09 GMT

We had a spillage kit in all our anaesthesia rooms, it consisted of gloves, poo bags, cat litter and face masks.

re: mercury thermometers: GET RID OF THEM!!!!! Seriously get rid and get either digital ones or the ones without mercury in them.

Re: What should you do if..........

Sarah Southworth RVN CertVNECC — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 20:41:43 GMT

That would be great thanks, i will speak to my manager about getting a bucket etc. probably should have a gas mask too

Re: What should you do if..........

Cloudy Weather — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 20:41:31 GMT

And whats the protocol for cleaning up after shattering a mercury thermometer?!

Re: What should you do if..........

Stuart McQueen RVN MBVNA — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 20:38:05 GMT

I would stand in the room and take a few deep breaths... I love the smell of iso... (I'm joking... about standing in the room...)

We have a spill bucket in the prep and dispensary... with a brush and shovel and some sand to put over these spills... when cleaning them up...

I don't think we have a protocol about it... but I'll have a look and post it here for you...

Stux