UMATILLA -An employee at the Umatilla Chemical Depot “mistakenly” took home some sarin solution Friday in a small glass vial, authorities reported.

The vial was returned without incident and there were no injuries or threat to the public because of the incident, according to a press release.

The lab technician at the Depot put the glass vial in his pocket and went home. He discovered it when he got home and immediately returned to the Depot, within about two hours of leaving work.

The sarin, a nerve agent, was in a vial with 24 drops of rubbing alcohol, said Mary Binder, spokeswoman for the Depot.

The rubbing alcohol and sarin solution is used to calibrate the facility’s nerve and gas agent air monitoring equipment. The technician was working on performing a routine test of equipment.

“While the solution posed no danger to the employee, surrounding communities or the environment, the Army takes an incident such as this seriously,” said Don Barclay, the Army’s site project manager at the Depot. “Therefore, an investigation started immediately and any necessary corrective actions will be made to help ensure this type of incident does not occur again.”

The Depot’s Operations Center notified off-post emergency operations centers Friday in both Morrow and Umatilla counties and in Benton County, Wash. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation also were notified.