Laboratory Safety at CDC
CDC is committed 24/7 to saving lives and protecting people. CDC’s guiding principles for laboratory work are to ensure the safety of all staff and the community and be as transparent as possible about our work as we conduct high-quality scientific research to protect people in this country and around the world. CDC has created this laboratory safety site as the portal to keep the public informed of our laboratory safety efforts.
![Hand writing on an electronic tablet](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20170118071853im_/https://www.cdc.gov/about/images/lab-safety/img1.jpg)
Progress on Lab Safety
Following laboratory safety incidents at CDC involving select agents, CDC conducted comprehensive internal reviews of each incident.
![CDC Labworker](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20170118071853im_/https://www.cdc.gov/about/images/lab-safety/img2.jpg)
Steps To Improve Lab Safety
CDC constantly develops and reviews extensive laboratory guidelines and procedures to protect both the public and laboratory workers.
![Test tubes](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20170118071853im_/https://www.cdc.gov/about/images/lab-safety/img3.jpg)
About Lab Safety
CDC ensures America's health security with more than 150 state-of-the-art laboratories that are a key link of defense against emerging health threats.
CDC Laboratory Science: Mission Critical
CDC’s response to the 2014 lab safety issues
- Halted all CDC lab work until a thorough safety review was conducted
- Appointed a Director of Lab Science and Safety to enact changes
- Conducted full investigations of safety-related incidents at the agency
- Actively engaged an external group of lab experts to review our work
- Completed extensive inventory of samples/materials in our labs
- Expanded biosafety training at CDC
Additional Resources
- Page last reviewed: July 14, 2016
- Page last updated: November 25, 2015
- Content source: