The U.S. Postal Service said last week that it has resumed nationwide installation of the Biohazard Detection System.
In April, the USPS halted deployment of the system, which is designed to provide an early warning for anthrax and other biohazards, to determine why some systems were producing inconclusive test results. The USPS' engineering group, working with BDS equipment contractors, identified and corrected the problem.
“Inconclusive test results did not mean that there was a threat in the mail,” said Tom Day, engineering vice president at the USPS. “They simply meant that a small but unacceptable number of tests had to be rerun to obtain conclusive results. Had anthrax been present, BDS would have detected it.”
Day said, “BDS has proven that it consistently and reliably detects anthrax in the mail.”
The postal service said it will continue to monitor the system's performance as deployment resumes. In all, 283 sites nationwide are scheduled to receive the system.
