GEORGE TOWN, March 26 (Bernama) -- A mercury spill incident was reported at the Buddhist Tzu Chi Dialysis Centre here this morning, but the situation was fully controlled by the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) without any casualties.
Penang JBPM assistant operations director John Sagun Francis said his team received an emergency call at 8.50 am related to the incident at the centre’s utility room on the third floor.
"There were two staff members present at the time of the incident, but they did not suffer any injuries. None of the patients were affected because the spill occurred in the utility room, while the patients were on the fourth and fifth floors.
"The Hazardous Materials Unit (Hazmat) team conducted a 'size up' before instructing members to wear complete personal protective equipment (PPE) to control mercury contamination using sulphur powder," he said in a statement today.
John Sagun said that approximately 200 millilitres of spilled mercury were successfully collected and disposed of in a chemical waste bag along with equipment that was unsafe for reuse.
He added that the cleaning work was also carried out using bleach, and the operation ended at 11.49 am.
-- BERNAMA
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