USPS Hazmat Awareness Month — an annual campaign that focuses on efforts to safely identify, handle and deliver mailable hazardous materials — begins Saturday, Nov. 1.
The organization is reminding all employees to always examine packages for hazmat markings and to ask customers if a parcel contains anything potentially hazardous — including metallic mercury and items containing metallic mercury, which are prohibited in the mailstream.
Mercury is a toxic chemical that even when exposed in small amounts — through inhalation, ingestion or skin contact — may cause serious health conditions.
When spilled, mercury can be absorbed into the skin and emit vapors that can produce harmful effects on the lungs and kidneys and the nervous, digestive and immune systems.
The Postal Service continues to improve its longstanding hazmat policies and procedures to help prevent incidents, such as adding lithium battery marking, packaging and transport mode requirements; and controlling limits and packaging standards for corrosive fluids, including prohibiting highly corrosive fluids such as mercury that can leak and cause burns.
The organization’s efforts also include focused communication and coordination with shippers, enhanced systems to accept and process packages that contain hazardous materials, and the best use of data to correct deficiencies.
Other measures include refreshed training for employees, improvements to the system used to report hazmat incidents, new signage and visual aids in Post Office retail lobbies and processing facilities, and continued work with the Postal Inspection Service to address hazmat incidents.
During USPS Hazmat Awareness Month, the Postal Service will distribute communications to reinforce policies and procedures to keep the organization’s network safe.
This includes promoting the use of public materials such as Poster 37, Is Your Package Safe to Mail? and Poster 318, Civil Penalty Notice; and the use of employee materials such as Poster 298, Domestic Hazardous Materials — Warning Labels and Markings, Poster 81, How to Reuse a Box for Shipping, Poster 702, Prohibited in International Mail — Dangerous Goods Warning Labels and Publication 52 — Hazardous, Restricted, and Perishable Mail.
