Health Officials: Lab Employee Misconduct Prompts Water Sample Review
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – State health officials say a laboratory employee is under scrutiny after an internal review found evidence of misconduct on work performed on state water samples.
The Minnesota Department of Health says the employee, who has not been named, was removed from duties at the Public Health Laboratory, and external reviewers are being brought in to assess the situation.
The employee's alleged misconduct involves water samples dating back to May 2013 used by the Environmental Health Division and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
Officials say the employee failed to follow protocol on drinking water and groundwater samples run to look for volatile organic compounds, gasoline and diesel products.
No motive has been identified for the employee's alleged misconduct.
Some 2,200 analyses performed by the employee are under investigation, officials say. These analyses amount to around 0.7 percent of the 325,000 analyses done by a particular lab division between May 2013 and May 2015.
The Health Department says it's reprocessing the employee's work to make sure samples are accurate and reliable.
Priority is being given to samples of public water systems in Edina, St. Louis Park, Spring Park, Kasota, and Brooklyn Center.
Also high on the list are samples from private drinking wells in Baytown Township and near the Lindala Sanitary Landfill site.
Health officials say they're taking measures to prevent future misconduct.
