Total facility cleanliness
12/01/2005
How preventative cleaning measures outside of your cleanroom will boost sanitation levels on the inside
By Patricia Grady, Coverall Cleaning Concepts
Oftentimes the focus of maintaining the sterility of a cleanroom centers on the room itself and one or two adjoining areas. Yet maintaining a secure cleanroom is a facility-wide operation, and should be approached as such. Particulates and microorganisms make their way into cleanrooms from external environments, and thus cleanroom managers must ensure that their facility is both designed and maintained in a well-planned and controlled manner.
Working from the outside in
The first step in maintaining the integrity of a cleanroom is to review the design of the facility itself. Oftentimes cleanroom managers don’t have the option of modifying the layout of an entire facility, but steps can be taken to minimize the risk of sacrificing cleanroom sanitation levels, beginning with thoughtful planning and preparation.
Managers should examine external and internal walkways leading into the building and ultimately to the cleanroom itself. External walkways should be designed specifically to minimize the amount of soil and particulates entering the facility. Design elements-such as pocked surfaces, grating, or external walk-off mats-drastically reduce the level of soil that enters the building from the outside environment.
Facility managers should be aware that different geographic regions require different soil prevention techniques. Buildings in the rainy northwestern U.S., for example, should be equipped with a grating system on the external entryways so that mud and grime are scraped away before being tracked into the building. In the southwestern U.S., sandy soils can scrape and damage floors-particularly those made of acrylic-and thus walk-off mats, preferably those made of synthetic materials, should be strategically placed in the entryway to catch dirt and sandy soil before they enter the building.
Walk-off mats are an important component of preventative soil defense. Mats should reflect the main avenues of travel into and out of the lobby or reception area, and should be laundered frequently to avoid particulate build-up. It is important to remember that mats should provide enough surface area so that people entering a building will take several steps before moving onto the surface of the main floor. Maintenance personnel should estimate the number of people who enter and exit the building in a given day and make matting decisions that accommodate the estimated level of traffic. This will also help managers to determine the necessary frequency of preventative cleaning for entryways, as well as for the hallways and rooms in the rest of the building.
On the inside
Facilities containing a cleanroom frequently use hard-surface flooring in rooms and hallways in order to minimize soil build-up and bacterial growth. Carpeting should not be found near the cleanroom itself, as carpeted areas tend to hold bacteria longer than hard surfaces and are often not shampooed on an adequate basis. Neglected carpet surfaces can easily develop mold and become a serious barrier to maintaining a secure and sterile cleanroom.
Hard-surface flooring, however, reduces the presence of mold, mildew, and their associated spores, decreasing the chance that contaminants will be carried into the cleanroom area itself. Hard flooring should be dust-mopped daily to remove contaminants and dust, and maintenance personnel should burnish hard surfaces on a regular basis. Burnishing is by far one of the most comprehensive preventative cleaning methods for hard flooring, and maintenance personnel operating in facilities that contain a cleanroom should have access to a burnishing device with an active vacuum dust-control feature to minimize the amount of airborne dust particles in rooms and hallways adjacent to the cleanroom itself. Airborne particulates can travel into the cleanroom area from hallways or ventilation systems and will ultimately attach themselves to walls and room furnishings within the cleanroom. While dirt and grime are easy to spot and eliminate, airborne particulates can pose a more insidious threat to the integrity of a cleanroom and must be monitored carefully.
Restrooms and locker areas
Oftentimes facility managers in buildings that contain a cleanroom underestimate the importance of maintaining clean and sanitary restrooms and locker areas. Frequent preventative cleaning measures in locker areas are particularly important, as these are often the last places employees visit before entering a cleanroom area. HVAC systems should be used frequently inside locker rooms and restrooms, and employees should have access to a clean, pleasant environment where they can meticulously remove cosmetics, jewelry, and other items that may compromise sanitation levels inside the cleanroom.
Restroom areas should be outfitted with touch-free fixtures and automatic towel dispensers, both of which eliminate the need to touch surfaces. Additionally, restrooms must be frequently monitored so that they do not develop mold or mildew, both of which may not only compromise the cleanliness of the adjacent rooms themselves but may also distribute airborne particles that will ultimately make their way into the cleanroom area. It’s important to remember that 85 percent of the particulates that pose a threat to the integrity of the cleanroom are carried into the area by individual employees, underscoring the importance of maintaining clean and sanitary restroom and locker room areas.
Desks and workstations
Perhaps some of the most overlooked areas that must be aggressively targeted to preserve sanitation levels within facilities containing a cleanroom are the work areas of various employees within the building. Desks and computer stations are notoriously unsanitary areas that must be cleaned frequently by maintenance personnel in order to protect overall facility cleanliness and, ultimately, the cleanroom itself. The constant presence of activity in and around the desks of employees ensures that bacteria and contaminants will vigorously populate workstation areas. Computer monitors, keyboards, and computer mice must be cleaned frequently, as should telephones, peripheral speakers, and filing cabinets and drawers. The need to frequently clean workstations and desk areas is apparent if you consider how often individuals will travel into the cleanroom immediately after using a computer terminal or making a phone call from their desks, transporting the bacteria that live in those areas directly into the cleanroom.
In short, the existence of a cleanroom facility dictates the cleaning procedures for the entire building. Maintenance personnel should focus not solely on the cleanroom itself, but on adjacent walkways, office rooms, locker areas and restrooms in order to maintain the cleanliness of a facility cleanroom. Ventilation systems must be monitored, lobby areas must be meticulously observed, and the actions and traffic levels of individuals entering and exiting the building itself should be recorded and used to schedule preventative cleaning activities. By combining awareness, common sense, and attention to detail, maintenance personnel can help ensure that sanitation levels in and around facility cleanrooms remain protected.
Patricia Grady is a global operations support manager at Coverall Cleaning Concepts, a leading commercial-cleaning franchising company based in Boca Raton, Fla., servicing nearly 40,000 customers in over 90 metropolitan cities worldwide. As a 32-year veteran of the commercial and industrial facility operations, maintenance, and management fields, Grady has earned recognition through her efforts as a housekeeping executive, instructor, author, and developer of numerous environmental, health, safety, and productivity programs.