This pull station uses a mercury-bulb switch, the main component of which (mercury, a heavy metal) is a neurotoxin. Extended contact (either by ingestion, inhalation, or simply absorption by repeatedly touching it) may result in impacts on the central nervous system in humans, leading to impairments in both cognition and coordination of muscles.
You may have heard that you should only eat tuna twice a week. This is due to the mercury concentrations within tuna meat, as a result of biomagification through contamination of our oceans. This obviously has nothing to do with the pull station, I just think that’s an example of the toxin in real life that you may be familiar with.
That’s before Electric switches came about; so this was the normal kind before those came about and they were used quite commonly. They are not allowed today due to toxicity and contamination reasons.