Toner Spills

Spilling water or knocking over a glass of wine can be a mess to clean up, but have you ever cleaned up a toner spill? Of course, this is not the ideal situation, but there are some things you can do to make it a little easier for you.

Mask

It used to be recommended to put on a mask while cleaning up a toner spill, as to not inhale the particles, because it causes health problems. Back in 1996, a study was done that showed that the way that carbon black was manufactured was linked to cancer, but the manufacturing method has changed and there have been no links to cancer since 2010. 

Carbon Black

Vacuuming the Spill 

After toner spills, the first thing you probably feel like doing is getting a vacuum cleaner and cleaning up everything, but do not do this. Using a vacuum cleaner to clean up the toner spill will only leave you with a bigger mess since toner is heavily affected by static electricity. What does the trick is an ESD (Electrostatic Discharge-safe) toner vacuum. Your copier tech should have one of these.

ESD Toner Vacuum

Turn Machine Off

Also, before you clean the mess, make sure to turn the machine off and let it cool for at least an hour. Not doing this puts you at risk to be burned by the heated parts of the machine.

Take Care of it Fast

It’s not an everyday event to have a huge toner spill, but when it does happen, it needs to be taken care of ASAP. Performing these steps allows most of the spill to be cleaned up, and it prevents you from having a bigger mess to clean up.