If you really knew anything about safety, you wouldn't be using mercury.
http://www.prospectorsparadise.com/html/mercury.html
Specifics
• Mercury is the only metal which occurs as a liquid at ordinary temperatures
• Mercury is one of only two metals which occurs naturally in both its metallic and oxidized state, The other being copper.
• Mercury will form amalgams with almost all metals except Iron and Aluminum.
• Occurrence in earth’s crust 0.5 ppm. That is 0.5 mg/kilo.
• Melting point is –38.87 C.
• Boiling point is 356.72 C
• Density at 25C 13.534 gr/cubic centimeter (cc)
• Vapor pressure at 25C 2 X 10 –3 mm
• Surface tension 484 dynes/cm
• Electrical resistivity 95.76 microohms/cm
• Does not tarnish in air at normal temperatures, but when heated near the boiling point will convert to Mercuric Oxide
• It will react slowly with sulfur at normal temperatures to form Mercuric Sulfide.
• It will react with Nitric Acid and with hot concentrated Sulfuric Acid.
• It will not react with dilute Hydrochloric Acid, cold Sulfuric Acid, or Alkalis.
• It will react with ammonia in the presence of oxygen.
• Metallic Mercury can be recovered from solution by the addition of hydrogen peroxide in the presence of alkali hydroxides such as Caustic Soda or Lye.
• Mercury can be recovered from solution by cementing with Copper, Aluminum, Zinc, etc.
• Mercury will react rather violently with Aluminum. Do not use Mercury in an Aluminum Gold pan or try to store it in an Aluminum vessel.
Precautions
• When working with Mercury always use latex gloves, it’s cheap and is good procedure.
• Always store Mercury in tightly closed containers (not Aluminum).
• Always put a layer of water on top of the Mercury unless it is charged Mercury.
• Never heat Mercury or amalgam in an enclosed space.
• If you must heat Mercury do it in the outdoors or a well-ventilated space.
• Always stand upwind of hot mercury. Do not breathe the fumes.
• Do not let Mercury contact Aluminum. It will destroy it.
• Avoid spilling mercury. It is very difficult to clean up.
• Never heat Mercury indoors or in any enclosed space.
• Never try to distill (retort) Mercury in a glass retort.
Gee..and the US government now mandates that light bulbs containing mercury are the only bulbs we can use..So just how dangerous is mercury if you do not know how to handle it?...Art