Dealing with the Threat of an Attack through the Post Using Biological Agents: The UK Experience

Royal Mail has long experience of dealing with actual or suspect explosives in the post, mainly, but not exclusively, connected with the conflict in Northern Ireland. There were also, obviously, procedures for dealing with items which were potentially dangerous to staff and customers, for example protruding sharp objects, leaking corrosive chemicals and used hypodermic syringes in post boxes. However, until the autumn of 2001 we, like every other postal operator, had no experience of actual or suspect attacks on or through the postal system, using biological (or potentially chemical, radiological or nuclear) agents. This article describes the methods used to envision the new threat and produce the plans to deal with it.