Cleanrooms vary widely in use. Manufacturing cleanrooms don’t have the same functions or standards as pharmaceutical or laboratory cleanrooms. Depending on your industry, your cleanroom will have a specific layout, ISO rating, and cleanliness standard. Therefore, its cleaning schedule and procedure will also differ.
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Cleanrooms with higher ISO ratings must be kept at much higher levels of sanitation to reduce the chance of interference of minute particles and contaminants. Conversely, cleanrooms with lower class ratings may be less threatened by certain contaminants or smaller particle sizes, but they still require regular cleaning to maintain standards and efficiency.
The best way to keep your cleanroom clean is to follow proper sanitation techniques before entering a cleanroom. These include washing and drying hands completely, using sterile and not powdered gloves, following the proper gowning procedure for your ISO class, and ensuring all employees can access garments and tools that fit them.
In a perfect world, we would prevent contamination by introducing zero contaminants into your cleanroom environment. Of course, this is virtually impossible, so regular cleaning and maintenance of your cleanroom and its systems is critical.
Keeping your workspace clean requires diligent adherence to daily and weekly cleaning schedules. Depending on the strictness of your class standard, more rigorous objectives may need to be added, or these tasks will need to be completed more frequently.
Whatever your facility requires, create and follow a cleaning schedule that clearly defines all assignments, making them easy to understand and follow. Here are the general cleaning protocols recommended for broad cleanroom needs.
Daily Cleanroom Cleaning:
Before a shift begins, use a damp mop on floors and vacuum to dry.
Vacuum all walls using a HEPA filter vacuum.
Wash and wipe all windows and pass-throughs dry.
At the end of every shift, wipe down all work areas. This should occur more frequently in cleanrooms with higher standards.
Put away products and supplies between shifts to prevent further contamination.
Weekly Cleanroom Cleaning:
Mop floors with a cleanroom-specific detergent, distilled water, and a HEPA filter vacuum.
Wipe walls with a damp sponge and distilled water, then vacuum dry.
As Needed:
Remove any residue or deposits on ceilings by washing with detergent and distilled water.
Using a damp sponge, wipe off all light lenses.
Change sticky mats as soon as you notice wear.
Remember, your specific cleanroom may have specialized cleaning and maintenance requirements. If you can keep and follow methodical cleaning procedures, you can enhance your cleanroom’s ability to serve you and your facility.
Cleaning products that are improperly sterilized or unsuitable for cleanroom use can cause contamination. You should use deionized and distilled water for mopping and wiping surfaces and use only cleanroom-specified cleaning agents. All chemicals and solvents for cleaning must be neutral, non-ionic, and non-foaming to avoid buildup on surfaces over time. High ISO class cleanrooms (ISO level 5-7) often require disinfectants to be sterilized before use, further protecting the cleanroom from any contaminants.
Never use scrubs or rags that could shed or corrode surfaces. Instead, only use woven polyester that is specified for cleanroom use. Employ a mopping system that separates dirty and clean water and will not scratch or contaminate the floor or walls. Follow a mopping protocol that efficiently cleans floors without spreading dirty water over cleaned areas.
It’s also a good practice to bring all materials that will be needed — such as brooms, mops, and cleaning agents — into the cleanroom before beginning to clean. This way, once the process is complete, you only need to exit once, reducing the possibility of contamination.
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All staff members and janitorial personnel should be well-educated on gowning procedures, environmental sterilization practices, and general equipment maintenance. It’s vital that they have a thorough understanding of the best methods for maintaining the cleanroom’s class standards.
Staff should also know what to do in case of a spill. Tools and cleaning supplies should be accessible, but not out in the open where cross-contamination could occur. Having guides and cleaning checklists posted visibly in the room will help staff maintain a sanitary environment.
Even if you’re doing everything right and following the proper cleanroom procedures, continue to check your systems and air to monitor their quality and maintain particle levels. Air samplers or settle plates can test for organisms and measure particles per cubic feet.
Additionally, regular checkups of your HVAC system will ensure it maintains a steady temperature and humidity level, and consistently change air to your ISO specifications.
Expert Cleanroom Maintenance Solutions by Angstrom Technology
If you’re cleaning your cleanroom and still not getting the results you want, it might be time for some maintenance. Connect with the specialists at Angstrom Technology for comprehensive support in ensuring that every component within your cleanroom operates at its optimum capacity. Our expertise can troubleshoot any issues and ensure your cleanroom always functions to the best of its ability.
Finally, your clean room is installed and fully operational. You put a lot of time and resources into creating your perfect cleanroom. Now you can sit back and relax.
Well, yes – but the work isn’t done just yet. Any cleanroom requires constant cleaning. No matter how great your filtration systems are, there are always ways for contaminant exposure. But when adhering to proper cleaning protocols, your cleanroom will exceed your expectations for performance and longevity. Cleaning procedures for cleanrooms are different from ordinary cleaning of your house or workplace. There are many factors that one should keep in mind when working to keep a cleanroom clean. Here are some tips to help you keep your cleanroom as contaminant-free as possible.
The best way to keep your cleanroom safe and clean is to prevent contaminants from entering the room. The most significant contributor to pollutants is usually the personnel. All staff should be aware of proper sanitation protocols before entering the cleanroom. This includes washing and drying hands, wearing sterile gloves, and following proper gowning procedures. Moreover, all tools and equipment must also go through appropriate sanitation and disinfection before they’re allowed in the cleanroom.
Your cleanroom will have specific ISO classification and cleanliness standards depending on your industry and applications. Cleanrooms with higher ISO classifications might not need as much maintenance because of high levels of air filtration. Cleanrooms with lower ISO classifications, on the other hand, require a more frequent and more thorough cleaning routine. As air filtration is not a strict requirement, more comprehensive sanitation processes are necessary.
All you have to do is wipe surfaces in your cleanroom with a dry cloth with absorbent material when using this method. The cloth should be a cleanroom-specific kind, meaning it will not break apart, shed fibers, or redeposit contaminant particles.
Wet cleaning is a good alternative when the dry transfer isn’t enough to remove particles. This method requires decontamination using cleaning fuel. Keep in mind that only specific non-ionic, non-foaming cleanroom-specified cleaning solutions are allowed.
Depending on the type of contamination, you can use either method. However, it is important to understand that proper cleaning often involves both practices.
Indeed, there are times when basic cleaning methods are not good enough. In such a case, bringing the advanced cleaning equipment is the right call. Based on the nature of the contamination, advanced cleaning equipment may take the form of a portable HEPA filtration system that will erase the contaminants in the air. Or, it may be Dry Hydrogen Peroxide disinfection, which attacks microbes in the air and on the surfaces. Steam cleaning may also be used for deep sterilization of surfaces and laboratory equipment. Cleanroom vacuums are one the most crucial equipment to clean cleanrooms. It uses either HEPA or ULPA filters to remove contaminant particles from the cleanroom environment.
Always start to clean your cleanroom beginning at the top – ceiling, top shelves, top surfaces of the cabinets. Even if you’re wiping surfaces with special cloths, bacteria and particles can still escape. Due to gravitation, they land on lower surfaces. Starting cleaning from the top will make sure all of the contaminating particles are cleared away as you clean the lowest surface of your cleanroom – floor. The floor is the easiest surface to obtain and spread the bacteria, so ensure you sweep and mop with proper disinfecting solutions. You might also want to invest in a shoe cleaner or sticky mats to minimize the spread of contaminants.
Depending on your cleanroom ISO classification, the frequency of cleaning tasks might vary. However, specific cleaning tasks must be performed daily, weekly, and as-needed for any cleanroom. Ideally, your company will have an SOP for cleaning, which states the frequency of cleaning based on the specific chemicals and products used. The SOP will ensure cleaning and sanitation procedures are performed the same way every time.
Prior to starting any work in the cleanroom each day, operators should sanitize the floor and dry it with a HEPA filter vacuum. The same vacuum must be used on the walls of a cleanroom. All the windows and pass-throughs must be washed and dried as well. At the end of the shift, staff should wipe down all the surfaces (even unused ones) with a dry or wet cloth depending on the level of impurity.
Even though the walls are being HEPA vacuumed every day, they should be cleaned with distilled water or a particular solution for deeper disinfection once a week. The same notion applies to the floors. Once a week, the floors should be moped with specific detergent and distilled water and vacuum dried after.
The following tasks should be performed at least once a month or on an as-needed basis. The ceilings should be washed with special detergents and distilled water. Light lenses should be wiped off. Depending on the machine used as a shoe cleaner, it must be deep cleaned or replaced. If you invested in sticky mats (which is a great idea!), they should also be either professionally cleaned or replaced.
When it comes to pharmaceutical cleanrooms, there is an essential difference between cleaning and disinfecting. Cleaning means the removal of buildup, grime, and dirt from the surfaces using detergent or soap. That step is followed by rinsing away loose dirt and debris. Disinfection comes after cleaning and serves the purpose of killing bacteria and microbes that weren’t removed by the cleaning process. The disinfection step sterilizes surfaces so that work can resume safely. All cleaning and disinfection supplies should be kept in a dedicated spot inside the cleanroom to minimize the possibility of contamination.
Cleaning SOP is significant in pharmaceutical cleanrooms. It includes specific guidelines about timeline and cleaning product specifications to help keep your cleanroom running smoothly. Cleaning of heavily used areas as floors and surfaces should be performed daily. In contrast, tasks like replacing air filters should be performed throughout the year at regular intervals. Before starting each shift, operators should examine the additional pharmaceutical equipment like the glove box or pill packaging systems. Depending on the equipment, it should be inspected and serviced professionally once or twice a year.
ACH’s cleanrooms are designed and built using antimicrobial and smooth materials, so that microorganism and bacteria growth risk is negligible. Moreover, all ACH products are tested for most of the harsh chemicals, and the results of their reactions are within an acceptable range.
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