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Royal Mail has launched an investigation following an incident at the Chelmsford sorting office.
Emergency services swarmed the area in Boreham, Essex to deal with a situation earlier this morning (August 11).
At around 6am, the building and car park were both taped off by the fire service and remained closed for over two-and-a-half-hours.
Staff at the Royal Mail site stood outside the building and were stopped from going into work while the incident was ongoing.
A Hazmat Unit was seen attending the scene, along with multiple other emergency service units throughout the morning.
The cordon was eventually lifted at around 10.15amm with staff being allowed into the building to return to work as normal.
A Royal Mail spokesperson has now explained what happened at the Chelmsford sorting office today.
In a statement, the company said: “An employee displayed mild rash symptoms from handling a parcel with a suspected substance at Royal Mail’s Chelmsford Mail Centre.
“The employee was treated on site by the Ambulance service and is showing no serious symptoms.
“As a precautionary measure, the building has been temporarily evacuated.
“We have launched an immediate investigation into the incident.”
A spokesperson for the East of England Ambulance Service added: “An ambulance, two ambulance officer vehicles and three Hazardous Area Response Team vehicles were called to the Royal Mail centre at Winsford Way, Boreham shortly after 6am today.”
“Five people were assessed and after observation, discharged at the scene.”
Follow live updates on this incident here.
