Discovery of white powder evacuates HSBC Salinas
SALINAS, Calif. - More than 20 workers at a credit card company were sent to local hospitals after a mysterious white powder was discovered in the building’s mailroom, officials said. The mailroom and surrounding areas at HSBC Credit Card Services in Salinas were evacuated after employees found the substance around 9:30 a.m. Friday. The building was locked down for about two hours.
The three or four workers exposed to the powder immediately experienced sinus and respiratory symptoms including watery eyes, police and HSBC officials said.
Those employees and about 20 others were sent to Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital and Natividad Medical Center, where they were all treated and released, company officials said. A hazardous materials team found the powdery substance in a letter-sized envelope and sent it to a lab for further tests. The FBI and federal postal investigators were notified, but were still waiting for test results before deciding what to do next. The company’s mailroom, warehouse and copy room were closed Friday, but other business operations continued as usual, Cohen said.
HSBC Credit Card Services was part ofHousehold International which was purchased by HSBC in 2003. Household International, a high rate shady lender, is responsible for the nation’s largest predatory lending settlement of $484 million. Some say HSBC Bank plc, headquartered in London, did little to change current operations.
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UPDATED: 1:30 pm PST March 20, 2006
SALINAS, Calif. — Following Friday’s discovery of a “mysterious white powdery substance” at the HSBC mailroom, HSBC is still trying to determine exactly what the substance is.
However, managers at HSBC say testing completed Monday morning shows that the substance — whatever it is — poses no health threat to any of the HSBC employees who were exposed.
The company is continuing to try and determine what the substance is. Meanwhile, operations have returned to normal at the HSBC campus in Salinas.