By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — U.S. Postal Service officials last year failed to inform workers at a Wallingford, Conn., postal facility as to the results of anthrax tests performed there until almost nine months later, in violation of federal guidelines, according to a General Accounting Office report released yesterday (see GSN, April 10).

The Wallingford facility first tested positive for anthrax contamination in December 2001, after samples were taken from four mail-sorting machines the month before, according to the GAO report.  The sample collection was prompted by the death of Ottilie Lundgren, a Connecticut woman who died of inhalational anthrax during the autumn 2001 anthrax attacks.  Among the samples taken in December 2001, one cultured about 3 million living anthrax cells, more than enough needed for a fatal dose, the report says.

The Postal Service decided not to inform workers at the facility, however, about the positive anthrax test results, because the results could not be validated as required, the GAO report says, adding that the Postal Service’s decision was “consistent” with service guidelines.  Workers were told that “trace” amounts of anthrax had been detected and were advised to continue to follow recommendations issued by Connecticut health officials, such as continuing to take preventive antibiotics, the report says.  No workers at the Wallingford facility contracted anthrax.

The GAO found that postal officials continued to withhold the results of the tests, however, even after an employee union requested the results in January and February 2002.  The decision to continue to withhold the results, even after the union’s request, was a violation of Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines, the GAO report says.  A subsequent OSHA investigation resulted in the Postal Service releasing the results of the tests in September 2002, about nine months after the results of the tests were first known.

U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), who requested the GAO investigation, criticized the Postal Service for failing to inform workers at the Wallingford facility about the levels of anthrax contamination found.

“It is difficult for me to fathom why postal workers were kept in the dark about this level of anthrax contamination,” Lieberman said yesterday in a press statement.  “Given the fatalities that had already occurred in Connecticut, Florida, Washington, and New York, it’s clear that postal and health officials, through their own missteps, put Wallingford employees at serious and unnecessary risk.  We can only thank God that no postal employees died as a result,” he said.

In its report, the GAO said the Postal Service’s decision to initially withhold the results of the test was “understandable given all of the circumstances that existed at the time,” such as an ongoing criminal investigation and uncertainties about the sampling methods used.  The delay, however, also illustrates a need for better communication between workers and officials, according to the report.

“The lessons learned from this experience suggest the need for more complete and timely information to workers to maintain trust and credibility,” the GAO report says.

According to the GAO report, postal officials agreed with the results of the investigation and have agreed to revise their guidelines.

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