do you have a CBR box at your workplace?

[SuePine69]

In the room where I work a box has appeared right next to where I sit. It has a sign on it - CBR box. I looked up the acronym and it seems to mean Chemical Biological and Radiological. I haven't opened it because I dread to think what it might contain. I know some people are going to say I worry too much but why should I sit next to a box that isn't airtight and might contain something toxic which I might inhale even in small quantities.

I intend to ask management about it, I have seen this box in a different room, but before I do that I want to know more about it. I anticipate that I will be fobbed off.

What is your line of work?

What's the working environment? What kind of business or service?

I work in the Local Print Room of His Majesty's Passport Office. I don't need to say which one, there are several up and down the country. We have big printing machines in the room that print passports.

Is it a CBRN response box? That is, a box containing equipment to deal with an attack and make the area safe?

So your building is an excellent target for CBRN / terrorism etc as you're a high risk area of business for the government.

You'll probably find they are popping up in all sorts of government buildings linked to ongoing threat assessments.

In the box will likely be respirators/hoods, gloves and paper overalls to be put on in the event of an attack. It will not contain nuclear, biological or radiological material. You'll not be inhaling anything. There won't be anything in there to "fight" against poison or radioactive materials. It'll contain some instructions on what do and what PPE to put on and how to do it.

In reality, it'll probably never be opened except to see if its out of date.

That could well be the case, but it doesn't say CBRN, it says CBR, with a hazard sign on it.

I'm sure you're right, but you'd think they would have told us about it!

OK, so they've missed the N off and decided nuclear isn't worth considering as a risk. Means they can concentrate on chemical, biological and radiological.

Why on earth would it contain anything toxic?! You don’t deal with CBR attacks by chucking toxic stuff around!

Did someone just leave it there and not say anything? You should have been told if some kind of emergency kits were being placed around your offices.

I’d open it for sure! If anyone complained I’d point out it wasn’t locked, seemed not to belong to anyone and there was nothing saying “do not open”.

OTOH It could be a lunchbox belonging to Charles Benjamin Rawlings who uses a hazard symbol to stop people stealing it. Like those joke lunchboxes labelled “toxic waste”.

At least you'll be first in line for the protective gear if it's ever needed!

I didn't know that the purpose of the box is to deal with CBR attacks. I had never heard of CBR attacks before. The fact that it has a hazard sign on it suggested that it might contain something hazardous.

There is another box, not in my room, with a big red sign saying UNKNOWN SUBSTANCE BOX. This is the box I saw before, not the CBR box. What the hell is that all about? Find some bleach in a cupboard but not know what it is? Just put it in the UNKNOWN SUBSTANCE BOX and we can forget about it? There are many hazardous substances often left lying around.

The room I work in is locked, only a few people can enter. That could be a problem if the emergency kits were ever needed. Next door is the first aid room which would seem more appropriate, that's never locked. If a security guard knocked on our door and said 'Have you got a CBR box in here? Where is it?' nobody but me would know what he or she was talking about.