The purpose of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) is to control diseases and keep them from spreading or so it would seem from the name of the organization. Turns out, however, that the CDC gets a fail grade on lab procedures and house keeping that would, in fact, keep diseases from spreading.

An independent evaluation of the CDC concluded “Leadership commitment toward safety has been inconsistent and insufficient at multiple levels. … Safety is not integrated into strategic planning and is not currently part of the CDC culture, enterprise-wide.”

Prompting this investigation of the CDCs safety procedures is a set of lab accidents this past year in handling Anthrax, Bird Flu and Ebola. Fortunately no one was hurt but that, apparently had more to do with luck than anything that CDC might have put together to protect its workers.

Additionally, workers at the CDC are afraid to report problems and safety violations for fear of repercussions.

CDC Director Frieden said that measures are being taken to rectify these problems stating that additional safety training is being scheduled and new safety measures are now in place.

I don’t know about you but I’m sure I’ll sleep better at night knowing this!