Employee Error to Blame for Anniston Incinerator Evacuation

An employee error is believed to be responsible for last week’s evacuation of a laboratory at the Anniston chemical weapons incinerator in Alabama. The evacuation was initiated after sensors detected the presence of sarin gas, officials said Monday (see GSN, Nov. 10).

Officials said that a worker accidentally tested a live nerve-gas monitor, instead of one that had been set aside for maintenance. Investigators suspected an employee error because both the initial detection and a subsequent test detected the same level of sarin, said Donavan Mager, a spokesman for the U.S. Army contractor that is operating the incinerator. Mager said that slight variations in sarin levels would occur in two tests under normal conditions.

All laboratory workers, however, denied making any errors until Monday morning, Mager said.

“Management is looking at the appropriate disciplinary actions for the employee who was involved,” the Army said in a statement (Katherine Bouma, Birmingham News, Nov. 11).

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