diff --git a/rse/plugins/org.eclipse.rse.services.local/src/org/eclipse/rse/internal/services/local/shells/LocalHostShell.java b/rse/plugins/org.eclipse.rse.services.local/src/org/eclipse/rse/internal/services/local/shells/LocalHostShell.java
index 250a9046370..d8d7bfb764e 100644
--- a/rse/plugins/org.eclipse.rse.services.local/src/org/eclipse/rse/internal/services/local/shells/LocalHostShell.java
+++ b/rse/plugins/org.eclipse.rse.services.local/src/org/eclipse/rse/internal/services/local/shells/LocalHostShell.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*******************************************************************************
- * Copyright (c) 2005, 2007 IBM Corporation and others.
+ * Copyright (c) 2005, 2013 IBM Corporation and others.
  * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
  * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0
  * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
@@ -13,10 +13,13 @@
  * 
  * Contributors:
  * Martin Oberhuber (Wind River) - [161838] local shell reports isActive() wrong
+ * Ioana Grigoropol (Intel) - [399231] Race conditions occur when trying to read from local processes using LocalShellOutputReader
  *******************************************************************************/
 
 package org.eclipse.rse.internal.services.local.shells;
 
+import java.io.BufferedReader;
+import java.util.concurrent.locks.Lock;
 import org.eclipse.core.runtime.IProgressMonitor;
 import org.eclipse.rse.internal.services.local.shells.LocalShellOutputReader;
 import org.eclipse.rse.internal.services.local.shells.LocalShellThread;
@@ -38,7 +41,7 @@ public class LocalHostShell extends AbstractHostShell implements IHostShell
 	{
 		_shellThread = new LocalShellThread(initialWorkingDirectory, invocation, encoding, environment);	
 		_stdoutHandler = new LocalShellOutputReader(this, _shellThread.getOutputStream(), false);
-		_stderrHandler = new LocalShellOutputReader(this, _shellThread.getErrorStream(),true);
+		_stderrHandler = new LocalShellOutputReader(this, _shellThread.getErrorStream(), true);
 	}
 	
 	protected void run(IProgressMonitor monitor)
@@ -84,5 +87,15 @@ public class LocalHostShell extends AbstractHostShell implements IHostShell
 		writeToShell("exit"); //$NON-NLS-1$
 	}
 
+	public Lock getLock() {
+		return _shellThread.getLock();
+	}
+
+	public BufferedReader getReader(boolean isErrorReader) {
+		if (isErrorReader)
+			return _shellThread.getErrorStream();
+		else
+			return _shellThread.getOutputStream();
+	}
 
 }
diff --git a/rse/plugins/org.eclipse.rse.services.local/src/org/eclipse/rse/internal/services/local/shells/LocalShellThread.java b/rse/plugins/org.eclipse.rse.services.local/src/org/eclipse/rse/internal/services/local/shells/LocalShellThread.java
index 0a33ad475cd..d9701bfb806 100644
--- a/rse/plugins/org.eclipse.rse.services.local/src/org/eclipse/rse/internal/services/local/shells/LocalShellThread.java
+++ b/rse/plugins/org.eclipse.rse.services.local/src/org/eclipse/rse/internal/services/local/shells/LocalShellThread.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*******************************************************************************
- * Copyright (c) 2002, 2008 IBM Corporation and others.
+ * Copyright (c) 2002, 2013 IBM Corporation and others.
  * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
  * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0
  * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
  * David McKnight       (IBM)    - [189387] Use specified encoding for shell output
  * Martin Oberhuber (Wind River) - [161838] local shell reports isActive() wrong
  * Anna Dushistova  (MontaVsita) - [249354] Incorrect behaviour of local shells subsystem runCommand method 
+ * Ioana Grigoropol (Intel) - [399231] Race conditions occur when trying to read from local processes using LocalShellOutputReader
  *******************************************************************************/
 
 package org.eclipse.rse.internal.services.local.shells;
@@ -29,6 +30,8 @@ import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 import java.io.OutputStream;
 import java.io.OutputStreamWriter;
 import java.net.URL;
+import java.util.concurrent.locks.Lock;
+import java.util.concurrent.locks.ReentrantLock;
 
 import org.eclipse.core.runtime.FileLocator;
 
@@ -62,6 +65,7 @@ public class LocalShellThread extends Thread
 	private BufferedReader _stdInput;
 	private BufferedReader _stdError;
 
+	private Lock _lock;
 	/**
 	 * constructor for local command shell monitor
 	 * 
@@ -260,6 +264,7 @@ public class LocalShellThread extends Thread
 
 			_stdError = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(_theProcess.getErrorStream()));
 
+			_lock = new ReentrantLock();
 		}
 		catch (IOException e)
 		{
@@ -438,9 +443,14 @@ public class LocalShellThread extends Thread
 		_isDone = true;
 		try
 		{
+			_lock.lock();
 			_stdInput.close();
 			_stdError.close();
 
+			_stdInput = null;
+			_stdError = null;
+
+			_lock.unlock();
 			if (_theProcess != null)
 			{
 
@@ -511,4 +521,12 @@ public class LocalShellThread extends Thread
 	}
 
 
+	public Lock getLock() {
+		return _lock;
+	}
+
+	public void setLock(Lock _lock) {
+		this._lock = _lock;
+	}
+
 }