Such items must be handled with care and disposed of carefully. Read on for pitfalls to avoid during your laboratory renovation. Contaminated Laboratory Equipment and Construction Materials Laboratory equipment, fixtures, and cabinetry can become contaminated over time with the chemicals in daily use. The contamination may not be visible, seeping down cracks to hide behind cabinets, under sinks, in storage shelves. The renovation process can often expose some unpleasant surprises.
Elemental mercury is one of the hazardous chemicals often found in laboratory sink and floor traps.
Because mercury forms an amalgam with many metallic materials, a metallic trap contaminated with it must be disposed of as hazardous waste. Spilled mercury can also settle behind a cabinet and not be discovered until after the cabinet has been removed from the wall. Special procedures are required to safely and effectively eliminate mercury contamination. Fume hood ducts are often contaminated with hazardous chemical residues. Occasionally, if picric acid or peroxide formers have been used in them, they can even pose an explosion hazard during the remodeling process.