Managing Broken Thermometers Guidance for Managing Broken Mercury Fever Thermometers Mercury is found in a number of household products, including fever thermometers. A standard mercury fever thermometer contains about gram of mercury. While this small amount of mercury does not ordinarily pose an immediate risk to the health of children, proper clean up procedures need to be implemented to ensure that the mercury does not vaporize.
Mercury vapors pose a more serious threat to children's health.
The Department of Environmental Protection highly recommends replacing mercury fever thermometers with non-mercury alternatives. There are digital thermometers and one time temperature strips. Digital thermometers contain a button cell battery that contains a very small amount of mercury. When the battery is spent, bring it to a household hazardous waste collection. If a thermometer breaks, try to contain the spill.