News Releases

Canada Post seeks reasonable solution to safe delivery of mail in rural Canada

May 31, 2006

Canada Post will work with local communities to find a solution to the increasing number of safety issues that have been identified in rural Canada affecting delivery to rural mailboxes.

There are two kinds of hazards: traffic safety relating to the danger other vehicles on the road present to Canada Post delivery employees. The second issue is ergonomics, resulting from repeated stretching to deposit mail in rural mailboxes.

"The health and safety of our employees is paramount", said Mary Traversy, Senior vice-president, Employee Engagement at Canada Post. "We are doing everything we can to ensure that our customers have ready access to their mail, but we cannot put our people at risk where safety issues have been identified."

Canada Post is reviewing all possible options to provide continued safe delivery of mail in rural Canada. External experts in the fields of traffic safety, ergonomics and safety law have been engaged to investigate the concerns raised with delivery to rural mailboxes. The difficulty lies with finding one solution that responds to all of the outstanding issues. In the interim, customers at hazardous delivery locations are being asked to pick up their mail from a centralized delivery location until a final solution can be found.

"We intend to work with the affected communities and will consider any reasonable solution", said Ms. Traversy. "We do apologize for any inconvenience caused by these temporary delivery solutions and thank our customers for their patience while we try to resolve the health and safety concerns surrounding mail delivery in rural Canada."