Further to the announcement made at 2017 CWU Annual Conference, Dave Joyce, CWU's National Health, Safety and Environment Officer has confirmed via his letter (LTB325/17) to all Postal Branches, Regions, Health and Safety Reps and Engineering Reps that the CBRNE Detection Equipment in MCs is withdrawn with immediate effect and it's use is therefore ceased immediately. As explained at CWU Annual Conference during the debate on Motion 87, the future use of the equipment and the approach to dealing with suspect items in the Postal system has been under consideration by Royal Mail, over the last year, in consultation with all stakeholders, including the Unions, Police, Business Protection and Security, prior to reaching this conclusion. The National Security Risk Assessment makes no reference to a CBRNE threat. Background Royal Mail installed CBRN equipment into Mail Centres in 2007. At that time the emergency services could not provide nationwide coverage of similar equipment, and their response varied greatly across the different Police Forces and Fire Services. National coverage of new state of the art equipment (mobile Detection Identification and Monitoring – ‘DIM’ units) now exists and are being transferred from Police to the Fire Brigade Services. The Police National CBRN Centre has also since been created to provide 24/7 coverage and consistent guidance to all Police Forces, Fire Brigades and Organisations. Royal Mail has continued to meet regularly and work closely with the Police National CBRN Centre who have validated the Royal Mail Group "Be Aware"/"Stay Calm" processes. They have conducted many joint exercises with Royal Mail and are consulted by CPC (Central Postal Control) over any reported suspect items in real time. The process for decommissioning,containing contact numbers and intranet addresses, is detailed in the letter to branches (LTB325/17) which is available from the CWU HQ website in the case of it not being available within the branch. Motion 87 You can download the DIM (detection, Identification & Monitoring Vehicles) details when downloading the LTB from the Members Only section of the CWU HQ website here Source: CWU
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