Medical Air Solutions, LLC

Mail Air Security Inspection Rooms

The MASIR™

Medical Air Solutions, LLC. offers the latest state-of-the-art design and equipment for the handling and inspection of incoming mail.  Our standard MASIR 225 (formerly MASIR 1800) design, as outlined in here, will greatly reduce the risk of contamination of your facility and your personnel to any airborne pathogenic material or volatile organic compounds (VOC) that may be present in your daily mail delivery.

It should be noted that the MASIR, while initially designed as a mail inspection room, can be used for other purposes where a negative pressure room would be needed for secure isolation.  (We can also adapt this design into a positive pressure room for mobile emergency management centers.)

The room specified in this design is patterned after a medical, negative pressure, isolation room that is used for highly infectious patients.  It is sealed so that no person or area outside the MASIR is exposed to any harmful elements that may be inside the room.  The ceiling and walls inside are coated with a non-porous polymer to prevent pathogens or chemical from being absorbed or adsorbed.

The air inside this "Super" isolation room is exchanged at a minimum rate of thirty (30) times per hour.  The exhaust from the room is HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filtered and irradiated with Ultraviolet-C (UV-C), known as UVGI (UltraViolet Germicidal Irradiation) to kill any airborne pathogen present.  The modular Air Purification Systems (APS) we provide have the excess capacity to exchange the air up sixty (60) times per hour (one [1] air change per minute) should the need arise.  The Air Changes per Hour (ACH) can be elevated to whatever level desired.

It should be noted that the MASIR is not a "clean room". A traditional clean room is a positive pressure room designed to protect the interior of the room from outside contamination. The MASIR is a negative pressure room that protects the area and personnel outside the room while protecting the working personnel inside the room. There are clean rooms such as those employed by NASA, electronics and pharmaceutical companies that are sealed and pressurized well enough to perform the function of the MASIR. This type of room generally costs hundreds of thousands of dollars or more and would become a hazard to the surrounding area should the structural integrity of the room be compromised.

This design meets or exceeds the GSA Policy Advisory issued on July 22, 2002, entitled "Guidelines for Federal Mail Centers In the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Area For Managing Possible Anthrax Contamination". (Section V, Mail Center Design and General inbound mail processing guidelines.)

The inspectors in the room have secure enclosures in which to examine mail with a minimal risk of being exposed to any harmful substances within any envelope. Should a suspicious item be found, there is a self-contained, HEPA filtered, battery/vehicle powered unit to allow first responders to transport the offending item safely to an area where it can be tested and/or examined for toxic or pathogenic substances. The MASIR precludes the need for evacuation when a suspicious mail item is found by retaining harmful elements within the secure enclosures inside the room.

The inspection units do not have UVGI lamps installed allowing first responders to acquire culture samples for microbiological testing as per Section IV of the GSA Policy Advisory.

The walk-in, hood-like, storage area is for mail storage, but, is also useful for opening and inspecting packages that are too large for the secure enclosures.

The MASIR system can be installed either indoors or outdoors and can be modified to accommodate the volume of mail your facility receives.  In some instances we may be able to convert an existing room so it can serve the purpose of this design.  Modifying a qualifying existing room allows you to utilize the present equipment you may already have.

As stated above, the normal air changes per hour for the MASIR is thirty (30) and can be raised to sixty (60) per hour if necessary.  In contrast, a hospital isolation room is required to have a minimum of twelve (12) ACH with fifteen (15) being preferred.  Hence the reason we refer to the MASIR as a "Super" isolation room.

Placement of the room at or in a facility should be site specific.  We will provide assistance in selecting the ideal location that best protects the personnel and the entire facility from exposure to any harmful elements that may be hidden in your incoming mail or packages.  It should be noted that the cost of decontaminating an entire facility could be at least an order of magnitude higher than the cost of the MASIR itself.

The MASIR includes: walls, roof, doors, ducts, walk-in hood, interior and exterior exhaust grilles, air diffusers, dampers, air purification systems (with their control electronics), room monitor (with alarm and communications capabilities), postal inspection enclosures and insulation of equipment where required.

Upon completion of room construction and commissioning, MAS will test all aspects of the room and the equipment operation.  This will be the same rigorous testing we perform on medical isolation rooms.  To view the testing protocols go to our Testing Services page.

As stated previously, the design of this mail inspection room is similar to that of a negative pressure medical isolation room. The recommendations for construction of a negative pressure room are taken from various authoritative sources such as:

• Francis J. Curry Tuberculosis Institute (funded by the CDC and California Department of Health)

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

• United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

• American Institute of Architects (AIA)
• American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning    Engineers (ASHRAE)

The inspectors in the room have secure enclosures in which to examine mail with a minimal risk of being exposed to any harmful substances within any envelope.  There is a walk-in hood within the room for mail storage, but, it is also useful for opening and inspecting packages that are too large for the secure enclosures.

While no system is 100% fool proof, this design can reduce the risk of exposure to airborne pathogenic material to an absolute minimum level.  Please call us, toll free, at 800-645-1059 for more information.

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