Common Cleanroom Contaminants
Some of the most common cleanroom contamination include solid dust, liquid, bacteria, fungus, human skin cells and hair, trace moisture, spills and leaks, cosmetics, perfumes, lint, fibers, and more. The vast majority of cleanroom contamination comes from those that work within it.
Cleanroom design and construction address contamination in a few ways:
- Preventing particle entry from air filtration systems or air gaps
- Purging and filtering room air throughout the production process
- Providing parallel stages and adjacent rooms of differing cleanliness eg; gowning or garbing room for dressing and donning, cascaded anter and buffer rooms for preparation and storage
- Isolated clean spaces and air pressure within laminar flow hoods for isolated procedures such as sterile compounding or hazardous chemicals
Best Practices for Entrance Rooms, Garment Rooms, Ante-rooms
- The section leading into a cleanroom should be at least as clean as the room itself
- All personal items such as keys, watches, rings, matches, lighters and cigarettes should be stored in the personal locker outside the
- gowning room.
- Place a sticky mat at the entrance of a gowning room with a waste receptacle nearby for discarding saturated sticky tack layers
- Watches, jewelry, and any clothing should be stored on the “dirty” side of the gowning room.
- Don’t smoke 30 minutes before entering.
- Hand Washing Best Practices for Cleanrooms
- While wearing gloves in a cleanroom is standard practice, those who wear gloves are less likely to wash or clean their hands prior to donning gloves. Poor hand hygiene increase the vulnerability of cleanrooms to bacteria and potential transfer or introduction of microbes such as viruses and fungus.
How to Wash Hands with Soap & Water in a Cleanroom
- Wet hands first with water, then apply soap
- Apply the manufacturer recommended amount of soap
- Use of paper towels is prohibited. Use HEPA equipped hand dryers
- Scrub hands for at least 15 seconds, and cover all hand surfaces
- Avoid using hot water, which may increase the risk of dermatitis
- Do not add soap to a partially empty soap dispenser
- Get input from employees about any fragrance or irritation issues
- Never touch a clean garment of clean material before thorough hand washing
- For EPA (electrostatic protected areas) cleanrooms, apply an ESD lotion, as standard lotions may compromise the effectiveness of ESD wristbands and monitoring stations
- Keep natural fingernails less than 1/4″ long
- Monitor the volume of use for alcohol based hand rubs
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