Dangerous chemical: A fireman placing sulphur powder on the spilled mercury at the laboratory in SMK St Mary, Papar.
KOTA KINABALU: A 16-year-old student at a secondary school in Papar suffered injuries to her hands after mercury from a broken thermometer fell on her.
The incident occurred at 9am in the school laboratory of SMK St Mary in the southwestern Sabah district.
“We received a call at 9.26am but by the time we reached the school, a teacher had already taken the student to the Papar Hospital as a precaution,” said Papar fire station chief Roslie Jun.
Safety check: A fireman inspecting the electric switchboard at SK Pekan Tenom.
“From what we gathered from the school, the girl developed what seemed to be rashes on her hands, so the school authorities quickly sent her for treatment,” he added.
Roslie said the firemen who responded to the call then immediately took steps to clean up the spilt mercury by using sulphur powder before placing the residue into a bag for disposal.
He added that the operation ended at 10.13am.
In a separate incident on the same day, quick action from a teacher probably saved his school in the interior Tenom district from being burned down after he reacted swiftly to put out a fire that started at the main electric switchboard in SK Pekan Tenom.
Tenom fire station chief Zainal Sinsian said that they received a distress call about the incident at 8.04am.
“But we did not need to put out any fire as the teacher had already doused the flames using a fire extinguisher before firefighters arrived at the scene.
“The fire team only had to inspect the switchboard to ensure there was no further risk of fire, with the situation brought under control at 8.12am,” he said.
