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If our Forensic & Analytical Science Service (FASS) chemistry laboratory notifies you that mercury as found in a water sample submitted for analysis, follow this procedure.

Sample Container

Use one 250 mL capped container with added acid preservative (5 mL of mixed acid: Nitric Acid 39.6% w/w and Hydrochloric Acid 0.17% w/w), as supplied by FASS.

Caution

The acid preservative is corrosive. It can cause severe burns and eye damage and may cause respiratory irritation.

A Safety Data Sheet (SDS) is supplied with the acidified bottles. Read this SDS before using the bottles.

Refer to our Safe Work Practice (SWP) procedure for handling the acidified bottles and collecting the sample before you begin.

Label

  • Use a yel­low NSW Health allo­cat­ed Chem­istry label with a bar­code begin­ning with 7.
  • Select a label for the cor­rect sup­ply sys­tem and cur­rent year.
  • Using a water­proof pen record the site code, time and date of col­lec­tion on the label. Write ‘Mer­cury only’ in the Com­ments sec­tion. Tear off and dis­card the small bar­cod­ed label attached on the right hand side of the label.
  • Ensure the out­side of the con­tain­er is dry before plac­ing the label even­ly around the acid­i­fied sam­ple bot­tle (not on the lid) so that the entire bar­code can be scanned at the laboratory.
  • A flu­o­ride field result is not required.

Con­tact the NSW Health Water Unit if you require replace­ment allo­cat­ed labels at [email protected] or on 02 9391 9939.

Collection tips

  • Flush the lines for at least 3 min­utes before col­lect­ing the sample.
  • Do not rinse the bot­tle pri­or to tak­ing the sample.
  • Fill the bot­tle to the brim, tak­ing care not to over­fill. Avoid splashing.

Package as ‘Dangerous Goods’

  • Place a non-reac­tive absorbent mat/material into an insu­lat­ed cooler.
  • Place the sam­ples into the cool­er with enough freez­er bricks to keep them cool (≤6°C) dur­ing trans­port. Ensure the acid­i­fied sam­ples remain upright in the cool­er and are pre­vent­ed from mov­ing dur­ing transportation.
  • Include a copy of the Safe­ty Data Sheet in the cooler.
  • Pack the cool­er into a box strong enough to with­stand con­di­tions nor­mal­ly encoun­tered dur­ing transport.
  • Attach a copy of the FASS Address label to the out­side of the box.
  • Attach a Dan­ger­ous Goods (orange) stick­er, a “Cor­ro­sive” stick­er and a “This Way Up” stick­er to the out­side of the box.
  • Com­plete a Dan­ger­ous Goods con­sign­ment form.
  • Com­plete a Sender’s Dec­la­ra­tion form for Dan­ger­ous Goods. The fol­low­ing infor­ma­tion must be included: 
    • Ship­ping name – Cor­ro­sive liq­uid, Acidic, Inor­gan­ic, NOS
    • Tech­ni­cal Name – Mix­ture of nitric acid and hydrochlo­ric acid
    • UN Num­ber – 3264
    • DG Class – 8
    • Pack­ing Group – II
    • Sender’s full name, address and tele­phone number
    • FASS address: 480 Weeroona Road, Lid­combe NSW 2141
  • Dis­patch the sam­ples to FASS as soon as possible.
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