No Emergancy Procedures For Terror Incidents In Place At DHL Vauxhall

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Date: 31 August 2005

GMB demands that DHL installs the same procedures as Royal Mail for dealing with suspect packages to ensure safety of workers

Thousands of GMB members at DHL Vauxhall and other depots around the country, who handle hundreds of thousands of parcels per day, are angry that the delivery company has no plans in place for dealing with evacuation if suspect packages are found.

In contrast to DHL depots, Royal Mail has full evacuation procedures for dealing with suspect packages. In the event of a suspicious package being found at the Royal Mail depot in Nine Elms, Vauxhall, staff are cleared from the building. They leave the Royal Mail premises entirely and congregate on Nine Elms Lane to be verified. This is the full evacuation of four floors and up to 800 people. GMB has demanded that DHL matches the safety procedures employed by Royal Mail.

GMB demands that DHL carries out risk assessments and health and safety checks at all of its parcel depots. GMB is concerned, following the terrorist attacks on London, that volatile materials could be travelling through parcel depots. GMB is worried that that the potential for postage of deadly parcels, containing explosives and toxic substances like ricin, could be leaving DHL employees and members of the public at risk. GMB believes that it is ridiculous in the current circumstances to not have parcel depots’ safety procedures vetted by trained health and safety representatives.

GMB is concentrating its attention on the Nine Elms DHL depot, because of its proximity to Central London. The depot is situated behind Vauxhall Bridge and is significantly close to the Houses of Parliament. GMB Regional Officer, Frank Minal, wrote to DHL Express 8 weeks ago requesting access to the Nine Elms site and risk assessments for the depot. To this date he has not received an official response and DHL are continuing to refuse him access to the site. This has led GMB to believe that no such risk assessments exist and to grow increasingly concerned about DHL’s interest in health and safety issues.

Frank Minal, GMB Regional Officer, said, “DHL owe it to their workers and to the public to match the safety procedures being followed by Royal Mail in the event of suspect packages. It is essential that at a location as big and important as Vauxhall that there is clarity in the procedures and that tried and tested systems are used in what are tense and dangerous times. We want to sit down with the company to sort this out.”

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Contact:Frank Minal, GMB Organiser on 07713 644186 or Becky Darke, GMB Press Assistant on 07817 957628