Fear of anthrax grips mail rooms everywhere

Nov 1, 2001 12:00 PM

           

When NBC News, ABC News, The New York Times and even Congress are sent suspicious packages containing a potentially deadly virus, which mail room is next?

The recent rash of anthrax coming through the mail, and subsequent deaths, have put mail rooms — and security directors — on edge.

“We will look at packages, and unless they say ‘confidential,’ they will be opened,” CBS spokesperson Dana McClintock told The Associated Press in October. “Junk mail is being set aside while we streamline the process.”

In California, Gov. Gray Davis has ordered state employees to stop handling mail until they complete training sessions on how to deal with items suspected of containing chemical or biological agents.

How can security directors prepare mail room employees to be watchful for such packages?

The United States Postal Service outlined criteria of mail that should be deemed “suspicious.” Typical characteristics that should trigger suspicion include mail that has/is:

• a powdery substance on the outside;

• unexpected mail or mail from someone unfamiliar to you;

• addressed to someone no longer in your organization or are otherwise outdated;

• no return address, or has a return address that can't be verified;

• unusually heavy, given its size, lopsided or oddly shaped;

• a large amount of tape on the outside;

• marked with restrictive endorsements, like “personal” or “confidential;”

• a strange odor or stain on the outside; or

• show a city or state in the postmark that doesn't match the return address.

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