On the afternoon of September 5, 2012, a customer at the Melbourne Goodwill Retail Center advised the staff that an antique blood pressure cup was broken in the store releasing an unknown amount of Mercury. The broken blood pressure cup was carried throughout the store and eventually thrown into the outside dumpster. After the employees researched Mercury releases on the internet, the blood pressure cup was retrieved from the dumpster (by a vagrant sifting through the dumpster) and given back to the staff. The staff then attempted to mitigate the release themselves, causing cross contamination of some of the employee's clothing.
On September 6, 2012 a cleanup contractor was hired to mitigate the spill. On this date in the late afternoon, FDEP was notified of the release and in turn contacted EPA for assistance. Both EPA and FDEP arrived on site the morning of September 7, 2012 and noted that cleanup efforts the previous day were unsuccessful in mitigating the release (Lumex readings between 19 ug/m3 and 100+ ug/mg were noted throughout the store). The original cleanup contractor did not utilize a Mercury vacuum and ultimately tried to sweep up the Mercury. Goodwill in turn released the contractor and retained the services of another cleanup contractor. A Unified Command was established between the RP, FDEP, EPA, and the RP's cleanup contractor, to address the release of this hazardous substance into the environment.
