An MSU employee stripped off his clothes and rushed home as soon as he found he had been exposed to mercury Wednesday in a Giltner Hall laboratory.

“I’m a pretty intelligent person,” Greg Tyler said. “I wasn’t taking any chances.

“I went out to the parking lot, took off my clothes, took off my shoes and threw them in the back of my truck and drove home in my underwear,” said Tyler, who immediately went to his home in Laingsburg to take a shower.

Tyler was one of seven MSU workers who were examined and released from Olin Health Center on Wednesday after they were exposed to mercury.

Ingestion of mercury or the breathing in of its fumes can cause nausea, vomiting, severe stomach pain and kidney failure, which could result in death. Poisoning from the metal also can lead to long-term ailments.

The workers were moving equipment from Giltner Hall to the new Biomedical and Physical Science Building.

University spokesman Terry Denbow said the accident was a routine thermometer spill. The area was decontaminated.

“Anyone who was taken to Olin is OK,” he said.

Tyler said a professor pointed out silvery liquid beads on the floor where he had been kneeling to unhook a large lab table. It was discovered that the mercury had been spilled from a broken thermometer estimated to be more than a foot long.

“There was so much dirt I didn’t notice it at first,” Tyler said.

It was estimated by Tyler the mercury could have been open to exposure from about 8-11 a.m.

After Tyler had taken a shower, he returned to campus where he went to Olin for an examination. Tyler said he wasn’t scared, but knew he had to get cleaned as soon as possible.

Tyler showed no immediate side effects from the mercury, and said he was feeling fine.

Tyler said he was informed the mercury tested at 25 times lower than what the Food and Drug Administration deems dangerous for workers to be exposed to for eight-hour intervals.

The MSU Office of Radiation Chemical and Biological Safety tested the mercury and checked to confirm that none had left the initially contaminated area.

Tyler’s co-worker, Jesus Esparza, said the incident put movers behind on time.

“We’re supposed to move this morning, but we’re short a load already,” he said. “I’m just glad that everyone’s all right.”

Tara May can be reached at maytara@msu.edu.