USPS Hazmat Awareness Month begins Sunday, Nov. 1.
The annual campaign focuses on how to safely identify, handle and deliver mailable hazardous materials, also known as hazmats, as well as ensuring that prohibited hazmats never enter the mailstream.
The organization is reminding customers and employees:
• To make sure hazmat markings accurately reflect a package’s contents;
• To check all six sides of a package for a hazmat marking because sometimes they are sometimes found on a package’s side or bottom;
• To completely remove or obliterate any hazmat markings that no longer apply before reusing a box for a new mailing; and
• To make sure an “H” icon is present on the postage label of a mailable hazardous material.
If a package has a hazardous material marking but the H icon is missing from the postage label, customers should not mail the package until the mailing requirements have been met.
Many hazardous materials should never be mailed. Customers should review current USPS requirements to check whether a package is mailable through the USPS.
Nonmailable hazardous materials include:
• Mercury and items containing metallic mercury. Mercury can pose serious health and safety risks if it is released from a package.
• Electronics with battery power of 100 watt-hours: Electronic devices with lithium-ion batteries having a rating greater than 100 watt-hours — including e-bikes, electric scooters and hoverboards — are a fire risk and generally prohibited from the mailstream.
Throughout the month, USPS will conduct employee training on hazardous material requirements, communicate with customers about policies and procedures, and distribute signage and other visual aids.
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