November 1, 2001
Guide available on suspicious mail
As the anthrax scare continues on the East Coast, the UW’s Mailing Services has increased its vigilance and advises others on campus who handle mail to do the same.
“Mailing Services works with the U.S. Postal Service, University Police and Environmental Health and Safety to develop safe mail handling procedures and train our employees in them,” said Eric Mosher, director of Publications Services. “Suspicious pieces of mail are immediately isolated from other mail and police are notified.”
Mosher said, however, that given the volume of mail received by the University, it’s impossible to screen each piece of mail. Therefore, departments are encouraged to designate one location for the sorting and handling of mail and to report any suspicious mail to University Police (on the Seattle campus) or local authorities (in other areas) as soon as it is received.
Mailing services has compiled a detailed guide on its Web site about what constitutes suspicious mail and how to deal with it. It can be found at http://www.washington.edu/admin/pubserv/mailing/mail.security.html.
