The New York Times' Escape Hood

The fallout from the Jayson Blair Affair has apparently become toxic, as Times employees have been issued gas masks. For the "unlikely event of smoke, nuclear, biological or chemical contamination," employees are being trained on how to use the hoods, and Gothamist learned the hood of choice at the Times is the spiffy Evolution 1000 Emergency Escape Hood. Employees must attend a training session before getting one, so we suspect these sessions are covert morale building sessions ("We're all going to die, so let's get past the this incident...").

About the Evolution 1000 Emergency Escape Hood:
- Shelf Life of 5 years - at minimum!
- Carry Bag Included - Nylon carry bag with shoulder strap & belt connection rings is included. Pack is compact, yet has velcro pockets designed to fit 2 spare filters & plenty of room for more filters if needed. Material: water-repellent nylon, beige color.
- Made of high visibility bright orange material, to enable rescue personnel to locate you quickly in any emergency.

Gothamist is impressed with how much the Times does ultimately care about its employees. We just have a very cute, though very large, dog patrolling our office building.