No injuries in Jersey City hazmat incident

By The Jersey Journal
December 27, 2009, 5:14PM

No one was injured in a Jersey City hazmat incident this afternoon, officials said.

Firefighters were called to a Wayne Street residence at 2:30 p.m. after a man said his blood pressure monitoring device leaked mercury, Fire Director Armando Roman said.

The mercury spilled on the man's clothing and on the floor, but never made contact with his body, Roman said.

But the department's hazmat unit washed the man down with water, bagged his clothes, and cleaned up the spill.

The man was checked by EMTs on the scene but he refused to go to the hospital, Roman said.

Mercury is an odorless silver liquid. If absorbed by the skin or ingested it is toxic and can cause kidney failure, cardio-vascular disturbance, or neurological damage, Roman said.