Postal Service, private carriers get mixed reviews on safety

Bill Lewis, president of the American Postal Workers Union local in Trenton, N.J., doesn't hesitate when asked whether he feels safer today than during last fall's anthrax attacks. If someone were to send an anthrax-tainted letter through the mail today, Lewis says, "we would have some dead people."

Last fall, four letters laced with anthrax were sent from the Trenton processing facility to New York City and Washington. Four New Jersey postal workers survived after contracting anthrax, but two Washington colleagues died.

In the aftermath of the attacks, the Postal Service bought for its employees 4 million facemasks that are able to filter out 95 percent of microbes in the air and 86 million pairs of gloves. It also spent $245 million on vacuums and filters, and it is planning to install sensors to detect biological agents within 18 months. But these safeguards are aimed at hand-mailed letters, not the 150 billion pieces of bulk mail processed every year.

Thus far, Congress has appropriated more than $750 million to boost mail safety, but the Postal Service has asked for an additional $800 million for fiscal 2003 and $5 billion over several years to deal with new safety concerns.

Meanwhile, the Postal Service is working to implement new safety procedures and equipment. Eight irradiation machines that cost a total of $40 million are being used to zap mail in Washington ZIP codes beginning with the numbers 202, 203, 204, and 205. Postal employees are using vacuums to clean mail-processing machines, but they still rely on air blowers for hard-to-reach areas.

Safety seminars urge postal workers to use gloves and masks. Few do, however, because the gear is uncomfortable, Lewis says. Individual pieces of mail receive no additional scrutiny beyond what was done before the anthrax attacks, he says.

The Postal Service videotapes transactions at some of its retail facilities and is testing new technologies that may be able to detect biological agents in the mail. In an effort to deter bombings, it has removed thousands of mailboxes near airports, military installations, schools, and other public facilities.

Private Package Shippers

Representatives of both the United Parcel Service and FedEx-the two largest private parcel carriers-said they would not reveal new steps taken to improve mail safety for fear of endangering their employees. "The problem is that if you discuss the specifics of what you are doing, you make those counterproductive," said UPS spokesman Bob Godlewski.

But parcel shippers and some employees say that little has been done. Last November, for example, the FedEx Pilots Association asked company management to take a number of actions: to test aircraft filtration systems for spores; to create emergency response mechanisms for infected employees; to bag and seal U.S. Postal Service mail that FedEx planes carry; to make anthrax vaccinations available to Federal Express personnel on a voluntary basis; and to acquire machinery to irradiate mail. In response, FedEx "basically did nothing," said union spokesman Kevin Scheiterlein.

FedEx has trained some employees as "dangerous-goods" specialists, and it requires that one be present at every mail-processing facility, employees say. And FedEx says it is providing extra scrutiny for packages from shippers unknown to the company. Regular clients receive less scrutiny, the company says, because their packages can be easily traced.

But last fall, dozens of FedEx packages filled with white powder reached Planned Parenthood facilities around the country, although the powder turned out to be not hazardous. In January, FedEx delivered radioactive material from Paris to a company in New Orleans. The 300-pound package was not monitored for radiation, and two employees were exposed. But in May, FedEx employees in Columbus, Ohio, discovered a package leaking white powder, and alerted authorities.

A spokesman for the Teamsters union, which represents United Parcel Service employees, said the union was satisfied with steps taken by UPS management, although he declined to elaborate. In the past year, UPS has not faced any public controversy surrounding its mailings, unlike the mixed record at FedEx.

Last fall, UPS did begin allowing its drivers and handlers to pull any suspicious package for examination by employees trained in handling hazardous materials. Previously, only packages that were leaking or showed other indications of containing hazardous materials could be pulled.