Screwed up the other day

So the other day I was cutting up an old sign which contained fluorescent lights when I made a mistake. I reached inside and moved some wires aside so they wouldn't get caught in the sawzall blade and continued cutting. I later found that there was black pcb containing oil all over the wires I grabbed. There is a small amount on my sawzall, pry bar and wire cutters. I tossed my cut resistant gloves which were thankfully coated in nitrile which is one of the substances which pcb does not penetrate. I let the property manager know about the leaking ballast and informed him I would no longer work on the sign. Does anybody have advice on what I should do with my tools?

I would not let it worry you at all.
I know I have had it get on me.
But consider We all encounter poisons day after day many your not aware of . A chance encounter will not harm you . I would think if each day you touched the PCB oil maybe then you could worry .
I bet cigarettes are worse.
All this scrapping is not so great but your body gets used to it & gets chemical strong .
Eat good food your body knows how to expel out toxins.
Today I was on a paint job and I was applying a moisture cure polyurethane Schwinn Williams calls it corathaine . The smell is killer 2 hrs is all i need handle . dizzy , a little high . lungs feel toxed out. I have worked with paint 30 years and I feel that paint is worse.

Just wash up all items and get working . Just so you know i take apart many a ballast and sure i keep away from the cannister
Look if you have some years of work under you - - you will be fine . Thats how you learn.

By the way some of those balasts are large and have 2 pounds of copper .

You should invest in a chemical respirator if you inhale that stuff constantly.

The yards in my area do not take any pre ban ballasts, transformers or capacitors that contain pcb. I'm going to contact the local sanitation department to find out how I should dispose of things like this. I was thinking maybe I could put on some heavy nitrile gloves and wipe down my tools with some Purple power degreaser over a container of kitty litter several times.

This incident has got me concerned about the fluorescent lights in my basement. I don't want that crap in my house if this could be a future problem.

I'm not sure about where you live, but the transfer station near me has stations that accept hazardous material like this.

For cleanup water doesn't work well. It is not water soluble. I have read approved solvents for it are kerosene, diesel fuel, and mineral oil. Don't heat or burn anything to decontaminate as this will release other bad things such as dioxins.

I wouldn't worry about this too much though. Your exposure is little to none.

I did research once , the lamps you have in your basement are safe . the oil does not leak out Even if the canister had a hole the oil wont be getting past all that tar that surrounds the canister,thats why caution is needed to handle the tar .

I probably am a little mis guided so don't hold it against me , But I take apart ballast all the time Just by weight feel, I know which side the canister is on
so I crack open take my copper and iron out . The yard gets the rest, they take it . I heard my yard is a full prepossessing yard ,they separate all the metals with equipment
so I know the item ends up with the aluminum that they shred. melting facilities have chimney scrubbers . Personally I feel lots of focus is put on the PCB for good reason But how many other things are let by. Thats how the system works , They make PCB's the poster child to prove what a fine job is done to protect .
How could the PCP component compare to smelting vapors .
I have 2000 pounds of ballast I need still to this day to dismantle, some CU some AL . maybe a hand full have PCB I don't find them that common.
A PCB ballast is CU . A non PCB can also be CU but some are AL , New style ballast are not worth the time for me

The purple power should help clean off my saw, it does miracles on motor oil and several other petroleum products which stain my garage floor.

I wouldn't mess with these things for the copper content. My father was a chemistry major in college and he told me that PCB iss measured in particles per million when determining hazardous concentrations in water samples.

The cost of health care for lymphoma will easily out weigh any profits made from these old ballasts. I'm just going to put these guys into a trash can with kitty litter and take it to the transfer station when I go on my next scrap run. They can keep the trash can for all i care.

I hope in my life not to get sick , I am healthy now, in my 50's
but I would never really know where to point a finger, been around lots of construction
scenarios . I don;t smoke , drink hardly .who knows life is like roulette