Perry Twp.
Investigations are proceeding to find out what the cause of a February mercury spill at the United Parcel Service distribution hub which led to the facility closing down temporarily.
Alison Lamirand, of the Cleveland UPS regional office, said “We did have an incident involving mercury.” “We have a designated response system that was put in place. We are still working with a response team to make sure the facility is free of contaminants.”
Mercury is a heavy metal that is toxic and it is suspected that it entered the facility at 4850 Navarre Rd. SW in a delivery parcel, said Lamirand.
No One Harmed
Michael Settles, public-relations officer for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said “It is our understanding that, somewhere along the line, some package broke open, spilling 16 to 17 pounds of mercury. A pint-sized container of mercury weighs 14 pounds. Mercury is very heavy.”  The EPA of Ohio responded with an official emergency response to the company.
Settles stated “It sounded like some of it may have spilled along an automated conveyor belt system. They are trying to make sure there isn’t mercury on other packages going through the system. To our knowledge, there has been no individual impacted to mercury exposure.”  According to Mark Martin the Township fire chief, the local UPS officials did not immediately respond. “It appears they contacted a private contractor instead of calling us,” Martin said. “One of my fire inspectors will be going down there to talk to them.”
It seems that at least two vehicles from Sunpro Environmental were in the parking lot following the spill. Sunpro provides environmental and electronics services in the field, including clean up proceedures.
Not Common
Officials of the company have “to make sure everything is cleared with our response team,” Lamirand said. “They secured the area where this spill was affected; to make sure that no people came in contact with the area.”
Spills of mercury are far more common in homes and schools where older thermometers are most commonly found, according to the EPA.  “This doesn’t happen a whole lot in a commercial operation or facility like this,” Settles said. “We don’t respond to a whole lot of mercury spills. It is usually residential.”