A homeowner was going through the belongings of an ill family member when they discovered a small jar of elemental mercury. The homeowner moved the jar to his garage in South Jordan (a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah) and placed it atop a tall sturdy cabinet until he could identify a proper hazardous waste facility. On approximately October 23, 2022, children playing in the garage dislodged and broke the container spreading tiny beads of mercury throughout the garage. The playtime incident was not discovered by their parents until approximately one week later.

On October 31, 2022, the Fire Department responded to the residence, secured a pool of mercury at the immediate spill location, and collected indoor air readings as high as 10,000ng/m3 (nanograms per cubic meter) in the residence and 29,000 ng/m3 in the garage.

The Salt Lake County Health Department requested assistance from EPA and an EPA Response Team mobilized to the home on November 1, 2022.

Indoor air quality inside the residence and the garage do exceed EPA guidance. The family has relocated to a nearby hotel.

EPA has deployed a skilled Response Team who will be working in Tyvek suits and respirators for their own protection. Air quality readings surrounding the home have not exceed background levels. EPA will continue to monitor air quality around the property.

• Collect all elemental mercury that can be identified in the garage and home.
• Use mercury cleaning agents to reduce any trace of mercury from hard living surfaces.
• Clean drain traps and remove carpeting throughout the residence.
• Screen clothing and personal belongings. Ventilate belongings in a heated environment as necessary and to the extent practical. Document and dispose of personal belongings that cannot be cleared for future use.
• Conduct 8-hr clearance monitoring.

1. Conduct HazMat entries into the home and garage to perform an initial screening and Site Reconnaissance.

EPA's Response Team entered the residence at 1630 on November 1, 2022. Ambient air throughout all three levels of the house were consistently screened at concentrations between 6,220 - 11,257 ng/m3. One storage room in the basement did screen at a higher concentration of 21, 174 ng/m3. Ambient air in the garage screened at higher concentrations of 33,870 - 41,640 ng/m3. Tiny beads of elemental mercury were observed to be mixed with personal effects throughout the garage.

EPA attempted to release limited clothing and personal items to the family; however, all selected items screened at concentrations above safe levels, based on EPA guidance. The basement and first floor of the homes are laminate, and the second floor is carpet. None of drains nor the washing machine screened at concentrations above the current ambient mercury levels discovered in the house upon initial entry.

1. Establish work zones, decontamination areas and response support infrastructure.
2. Begin removing elemental mercury and addressing contaminated items in the garage.

Weather conditions on November 2 were cold and wet with occasional snow. EPA's Response Team established two areas to process contaminated materials in the home. In the back of the property, the Team erected two heated tents that will be used to air out contaminated soft materials such as clothes and pillows. These items will be re-tested before being returned to the home. Heating the tents helps the process and improves the accuracy of the tests when the weather is cold. A third tent was erected in front of the home to process contaminated items that cannot be salvaged. These items will be transferred to covered and secure HazMat roll-offs for disposal at an appropriate disposal facility.

The Response Team cleared safe passages in the garage and began collecting beads of elemental mercury from the garage floor and household items located around the spill location. There are numerous tiny beads of mercury throughout the garage.

The EPA Response Team will be continuing to address contamination in the garage on November 3. Household items that can be salvaged will be processed in back. Items that cannot will be processed in front. Once the garage has been cleared of obvious contamination, the Team will use mercury cleaning agents on hard surfaces and seal the floor of the garage.

The Team will next move inside the home. Night operations will begin on November 3.

1. Continue removing elemental mercury and addressing contaminated items in the garage.

EPA's Response Team continued to use a mercury-specific vacuum to collect visible beads of mercury from the floor of the garage as well as from household items in the garage. After the beads of mercury are removed, the items in the garage are photographed, inserted into large plastic bags, heated to the extent practical and then the air in the bags is screened with an instrument to determine levels of mercury. In consultation with the property owner, those items with mercury levels determined by the OSC to be too high to be salvaged are placed in a covered and secure dumpster for disposal. Items that can be salvaged are segregated for heat/vent treatments and further testing. Specific items of value and some items that can be cleaned with mercury cleaning agents are also segregated for additional treatment and testing.

Most items in the garage were determined to be unsalvageable.

Several items of clothing were removed from the home, processed with heat/vent treatments, successfully tested and returned to the family.

EPA's Response Team plans to finish gross decontamination of the garage and then move to the next most contaminated area which is a storage room in the basement.

The Team will begin cycles of heating the property with a trailered heating unit followed by venting the property with carbon filtered fans to bring down levels of mercury in the ambient indoor air. Lowering the ambient air levels of mercury will help EPA identify hot spots and get the family back into their home.

1. Process, test and release household items to family as necessary.
2. Complete gross decontamination of garage.
3. Perform detailed assessment of conditions in the home.
4. Begin gross decontamination of the home.
5. Screen the homes and cars of visitors and places the family visited where mercury may have been tracked.

EPA's Response Team continued to remove items required by the family during their relocation. These items were processed with heat/vent treatments, successfully tested and returned to the homeowners.

The Team sorted through all items in the garage and collected visible beads of mercury as they were encountered. The majority of these items were determined to be too high to be salvaged and were prepared for disposal. A mercury cleaning agent was used on the floor of the garage before the Team performed numerous cycles of heating and venting to lower levels of mercury in the ambient air of the garage.

The crew covered all the floors in the home as well as all the moveable objects (furniture, laundry bins, etc) in contact with these floors with plastic sheeting. They cut through this plastic sheeting in numerous locations to obtain accurate mercury readings and used this data to identify contaminated household objects and materials to be removed.

The Response Team completed a gross decontamination of a storage room in the basement. This room was a location used by the children for hide and seek after they broke the jar of mercury in the garage. The Team also removed all the carpeting in the home.

EPA screened three cars and one home that could have been secondarily contaminated. No levels of concern were detected. The Salt Lake County Health Department determined that the screening of a second home was not required. EPA recommends and will screen any homes and cars where the mercury from this incident may have been tracked.

EPA's Response Team will use a mercury cleaning agent to decontaminate the floors and accessible HVAC ducts of the home. The Team will then perform multiple cycles of heating and venting in the residence and HVAC system before initiating clearance sampling.

1. Process, test and release household items to family as necessary.

2. Complete gross decontamination of garage.

3. Complete gross decontamination of the home.

4. Initiate heating and venting cycles in the residence and HVAC system in preparation for clearance sampling.

5. Screen the home and cars of visitors and places the family visited where mercury may have been tracked. 

EPA's Response Team continued to remove items required by the family during their relocation. These items were processed with heat/vent treatments, successfully tested and returned to the homeowners. The Team continued to screen items that were in the garage and storage room when the spill occurred to determine if the levels are too high to be salvaged.

The Team removed shelving from the garage near where the spill occurred and steps from the garage to the basement where mercury was tracked. Mercury beads were found in the crack under the footing of the shelving and were removed with a Mercury Vacuum. 

The Team used a mercury cleaning agent to decontaminate the floors and accessible HVAC ducts of the home. The Team also reapplied a mercury cleaning agent to the floor of the garage. The Team has begun performing multiple cycles of heating and venting in the residence and HVAC system before initiating clearance sampling.

EPA recommends and will screen any homes and cars where the mercury from this incident may have been tracked. No additional homes or cars were screened during this operational period.

1. Process, test and release household items to family as necessary.

2. Complete gross decontamination of garage.

3. Complete gross decontamination of the home.

4. Initiate heating and venting cycles in the residence and HVAC system in preparation for clearance sampling.

5. Screen the home and cars of visitors and places the family visited where mercury may have been tracked.

EPA's Response Team continued to remove items required by the family during their relocation. These items were processed with heat/vent treatments, successfully tested and returned to the homeowners. The Team continued to screen items that were in the garage and storage room when the spill occurred to determine if the levels are too high to be salvaged. On November 13, final decisions were made about items that could be salvaged or disposed of in coordination with the homeowner.

The Team resealed cracks and reapplied an epoxy coating to the floor and lower walls of the garage where the spill occurred. The Team then continued to perform multiple cycles of heating and venting in the residence and HVAC system.

8-hour clearance sampling was performed on November 12. Data logging with a Lumex was conducted for an 8-hour period in the garage near where the spill occurred (see photo above). The highest reading was 21.5 ng/m3 during this cycle. The Team also performed 8-hour clearance inside the home sampling 20 locations each hour. The highest reading in the home over this period was 113 ng/m3. These results were below the cleanup goal in the EPA Mercury Guidance of 1,000 ng/m3 and below the EPA Region 8 cleanup goal of 300 ng/m3.

On November 13, final cleanup of the site was conducted and the Team was demobilized. On November 14, final pickup of rental equipment occurred and the roll-off boxes were moved to the local fire department awaiting TCLP results so waste can be sent for disposal.

EPA recommends and will screen any homes and cars where the mercury from this incident may have been tracked. No additional homes or cars were screened during this operational period.

This will be the final update for the emergency response action. The only activities that remain are transportation and disposal of waste generated from the response (both hazardous and non-hazardous).