Screening Level Risk Characterisation for Mercury Exposure from Compact Fluorescent Lamps

The purpose of the report is to provide a screening level risk characterisation of mercury released from breakage of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs).

Risk to infants and adults was evaluated based on two exposure scenarios: CFL breakage in a room with no ventilation and no clean-up, and CFL breakage in a room with adequate ventilation and clean-up. Concentration data from a study by Stahler et al (2008) were compared to human toxicity benchmarks to calculate hazard quotients. For the no clean-up scenario, hazard quotients were less than one, an unlikely health risk. When the room was ventilated and the CFL cleaned-up, mercury concentrations were lower. Uncertainties in the screening risk characterisation include assumptions about room size, ventilation, age of bulb, the distribution of mercury in the room, and also the choice of toxicity benchmarks use to development the hazard quotients.