All members of the response team will exercise extreme caution when handling the mercury and any unknown chemicals. Levels of personal protective equipment will range from level D to level B (when dealing with unknown chemicals). 

All members of the response team will be cognizant of slips, trips, and falls as well as heat related stressors.

All members of the response team have the authority to stop all work should something hazardous arise that requires further planning and investigation before continuing. 

The objectives of this emergency response are:

1. Ensure the safety of the public and the response team in all removal efforts.

2. Collect, contain and safely dispose of the known mercury, both still in containers and spilled. This includes tracking down any mercury that may have gotten off-site.

3. Safely identify, contain and dispose of all other potentially hazardous chemicals at the site.

4. Stabilize the source area of the hazardous chemicals and prevent any off-site tracking.

5. Provide timely, accurate, and transparent communication with the public and all other stakeholders.

The objectives of this operations period are as follows:

1. Mobilize crews and equipment to site.

2. Establish an understanding of where the mercury has tracked and where it has not tracked.

3. Create an inventory of contaminated items.

4. Begin removing the mercury.

5. Begin HazCatting the chemical bottles.

The removal team established work zones and began determining the extent of mercury tracking in and around the home. The shed where the mercury spilled is detached, and the family did well to keep the contaminated items out of the home. The items pulled from the shed have remained on the driveway since they were removed. Minimal contamination zones were identified inside the home.

One room contains items from the late husband's gold refining collection and triggers the mercury sensing equipment to a degree substantial enough to investigate further, but at this point seems to be separate from the spill in the shed. Other problem areas were the sink where they washed their hands and the wash machine where they washed their clothes after working in the shed. 

Most all items from the shed have been disposed of in a lined roll off dumpster, barring a few that the homeowner would like to save. 

In the shed, approximately 200 lbs of mercury has been found and 200 individual bottles of different chemicals have been identified. Many chemicals are unlabeled and in containers of poor integrity.

Throughout the operational period, friends and neighbors who had been in contact with the shed came by the house to have their clothes, shoes, and car checked for mercury. So far, all of those have been cleared. 

The objectives for this operational period are as follows:

1. Finish collecting all mercury, both with the mercury vacuum and in containers.

2. Collect, HazCat, and dispose of all chemical containers.

3. Begin collecting and disposing of mercury contaminated materials inside the home.

4. Continue to inspect all leads on any off-site tracking of mercury.

During this operational period the EPA response team:

1. Cleared the home for regular habitation

Previously, the homeowner was staying out of the one room that was identified as having mercury vapor concentrations above the levels for safe living conditions and also not running their air conditioning to avoid bringing mercury vapors into any other rooms.

The room was cleared by removing all items from inside and disposing of items that screened high for concentrations of mercury vapors. All other items were returned to the home owner. Additionally, the carpet of this room was removed for proper disposal.

After this exercise, the EPA response team completed a 8 hour sample inside the room to gather a time-weighted average of any remaining mercury vapors. The room was then found to be well below any standards for residential homes and the home owner returned to a more normal living routine inside the house.

2. Collected, identified and organized all chemical containers

Over 200 containers of miscellaneous chemicals with varying levels of structural integrity were collected from inside the shed. Many of these were well labeled and easily identifiable. Around 36 of these were unidentifiable and need to be Hazardous Categorized (HazCat'ed). The EPA START contractor spent much of this operational period collecting, identifying, and packaging these containers for proper disposal.

3. Tracked down all other off-site leads

Several family and friends of the homeowner helped with the initial moving of items out of the shed when the mercury was found and the report was made. Each of these individuals came to the house during our work hours with the car they drove to and from the home plus their clothes and boots that they wore while the moving was happening. The EPA response team screened all items and cars and while some items did come back high in mercury concentrations, no evidence of off-site tracking was found.

4. Nearly finished removing all known mercury from the shed and the items from the shed

Much of the operational period was spent inside the shed removing items that cannot be saved (namely, wooden shelves and benches stained with mercury sheen). Additionally, the Mercury Vacuum was used extensively inside the shed and on the items that were removed from the shed by both the EPA response crew and the family in the original spill event. Although the family called the EPA for assistance last week, the spill seemed to have happened long ago, likely years ago. Because of this, many of the items inside were disposed of.

The EPA response team is taking every effort to save the items the homeowner particularly would like to see saved.

During the operational period of June 15 to June 19, the objectives are as follows:

1. Clean up remaining mercury in the shed and on the driveway where items from the shed were moved to and screen for mercury vapors to find the safest way forward for both the homeowner and the community.

2. Finish cleaning the items that were taken out of the shed and screening those for mercury to find the safest way forward for the homeowner and the community.

3. Finish preparing all chemicals, including mercury, for final proper disposal.

4. Safely demobilize crews and equipment from the site.

During this operational period, the EPA response team

1. Cleaned up remaining mercury in the shed and found that it did not need to be taken down.

Because the mercury spill potentially happened many years ago, the response team was not sure it would be possible to save the shed. After taking out the wooden shelving and some dry wall that had been saturated with mercury, the team continued to use the mercury vacuum and clean the area to the best of their ability. As a final measure, the team sealed the concrete floor. After this, the mercury vapor concentrations inside the shed were found to be safe for normal use.

2. Finished cleaning and screening the items that were taken out of the shed.

Similar to the shed itself, the response team was not sure it would be possible to save the items that the homeowner identified as things they would like to have saved if possible. Luckily, after taking the steps to clean the items as best the team could, many possessions were safely returned to the homeowner.

3. Finished preparing all chemicals, including mercury, and waste for final proper disposal.

All chemicals were placed in secure, Department of Transportation approved containers and prepared for final disposal. The chemicals and the waste generated at the site were taken off-site to a holding facility where they will be picked up for final disposal in the coming weeks.

4. Safely demobilized crews and equipment from the site.

All crews and equipment left the site at the end of the day Wednesday, June 19. This concludes the field work portion of this emergency response.