The global mail stream consists of billions of mail pieces carried by postal services, licensed postal competitors, daily messenger services and companies like Pitney Bowes that provide on-site mail services within large organisations.
Keeping the mail stream secure is a daunting task, but there are measures that can be taken to reduce the risk.
All sectors of public and private business, from multinational organisations and central government, to small to medium size enterprises and local government are at risk of postal security incidents.
In the UK, The Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (the CPNI) is the government authority that provides protective security advice to businesses and organisations to reduce the vulnerability of the national infrastructure from security threats such as terrorism and espionage.
The authority takes the issue seriously enough to offer practical security guidelines against letter-bombs (including chemical, biological and radioactive threats) on its official website. On the 31st March, 2009 ‘PAS97:2009 A Specification for Mail Screening and Security’ was published in collaboration with the British Standards Institution.
This provides advice and assistance in assessing the risks organisations face from postal threats and provides direction on implementing appropriate screening and security measures.
In terms of our own specialist operation in the UK, we have seen year on year growth of 15% in terms of new users of our mail screening services. All mail through our operation has canine, radiological, anthrax, x-ray and operative screening.
In this operation we have screened over 30 million pieces of mail in the last five and a half years. In this time we have had to call out response units over 140 times. Whilst none of those items contained anthrax over 70% of them did contain a powder or substance of one form or another.
The cost of false alarms
The real threat most businesses face results from lost worker productivity and downtime associated with these false alarms, which can be costly.
The impact of disruption should not be underestimated. How does one calculate the loss to a company if a 2,000-member employee campus is shut down for even half a day due to a false alarm?
As with any other anti-terrorist activity, there is no “silver bullet” solution. But by having the right people and processes in place, these disruptions can be minimised.
In fact, the most important factor in mailstream security by far is a well-trained, educated mail handling team. Working in conjunction with security personnel, this is the best line of defence against an attack on the mail centre.
Preventative measures
After employee training, the possible counter measures that organisations can implement to improve mail centre security include relocating the incoming mail function to isolate it from other departments, automating the function to reduce the incidence of manual handling, and improving the screening of incoming mail and packages through the use of video, x-ray and even specially trained dogs.
Some firms at a higher level of perceived risk are implementing additional safety measures, which include the mandatory use of protective clothing and equipment for personnel, the creation of secure and self-contained workstations for opening mail, and the use of high efficiency vacuums and air filtration systems.
In the unlikely event that actual biohazards are present they can be contained in a vacuum-sealed room that can be cleaned at a cost far lower than that of cleaning a building.
The cost of cleaning up an anthrax-contaminated facility is about the same as the cost of tearing down the facility and rebuilding it completely.
Every product or technology related to mail centre security may not be appropriate for or needed by every organisation. But every organisation needs to strike a balance and take sensible safety precautions.
When mail-processing personnel use awareness, common sense,and effective, documented procedures, mail safety and security is achievable. The cost of ignoring the issue can be astronomical.