WEYMOUTH, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — The procurement manager at South Shore Health is being credited with a critical save, after he picked up on subtle clues that an N95 mask shipment was fake. As the procurement manager for the health system, Barry O'Shaughnessy has had to order personal protective equipment (PPE) from new vendors throughout the pandemic.
When he received a recent shipment of 30,000 N95 masks from a company in New Jersey, O'Shaughnessy knew something was off, even though the clues were miniscule.
"I noticed on the shipping container, the 3M label on the outside of the box was in a different position," he said. O'Shaughnessy also noticed that the feel of the plastic wrapping on around the masks was slightly wrong. O'Shaughnessy has 25 years of experience in the field, which he credits in helping him discover the fake masks. “I just knew that something wasn’t right,” he said.
He reported the shipment to 3M, and the company confirmed the shipment was fake. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security seized the masks and is investigating.
WBZ'S Carl Stevens (@Carlwbz) reports:
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