Update: Post Office drama over

POST Office workers at Commerical Road in Ipswich have been let back into the building after an evacuation earlier this morning.

The premises were evacuated at about 9.55am after a suspicious package was discovered prompting Suffolk police to attend at the scene.

Officers were called to stand down and staff were allowed back to work at about 1pm, after specialist officers deemed the contents not hazardous.

A Suffolk police spokeswoman said as a precautionary measure the fire service and ambulance crews were on standby at the scene.

The package has been secured in a room and specialist police officers were called to the scene to help establish the contents of the package.

It is believed the package was found behind a machine in the main office. It is thought it opened spilling its contents, a white substance.

Rob Richards, the union health and safety officer said they have specialist equipment on site to give a reading within about 10 minutes giving an indication of what the substance is.

He said he believed that equipment was used today and said the reaction and police presence at the site suggests the testing provided positive results.

Sorter Carl Williams said staff were informed to switch all fans off and evacuate the building at about 10.30am.

Mr Richards said the evacuation process “could have been better.”

“These things don't happen very often,” he said. “Workers sometimes fail to take these situations seriously.”

He added: “Everybody has come out into the car park and I have no idea who was in the room at the time, we have very effective checklists and procedures in place but it can be difficult to implement.

“Communication could have been better and we could have better contained people who came into contact with the substance.”

Mr Richards said he would like to see a situation where there is an emergency alarm, like a fire alarm, to alert all workers at once if an incident like this happens.

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