Key Points

Fire

• Non-combustible, except in powder form
• Reacts violently with acetylene, ammonium nitrate, bromates, chlorates, iodates, chloride, ethylene oxide, sodium azide and potassium oxide
• May decompose upon heating to form corrosive and/or toxic fumes

Health

• Toxic by inhalation, ingestion and skin contact
• Inhalation may cause metal fume fever. Symptoms include coughing, sore throat, chest tightness, headache and fever
• Ingestion may result in stomach pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea
• Skin exposure to copper can cause contact inflammation and burns
• Copper foreign bodies can cause serious eye damage

Environment

• Avoid release into the envionment
• Inform the Environment Agency of substantial releases

 

All sections of the compendia are available to download:

 

• Copper General Information (PDF, 65 KB)
• Incident Management (PDF, 38 KB)