What is Cleanroom Contamination and How to Prevent them?

Cleanroom Laboratories are considered one of the cleanest spaces to perform sensitive operations. To control cleanroom contamination and to maintain the ISO Class 5 standards, one needs to follow strict rules. With this post, we will discuss cleanrooms and everything you need to know about them.

Let’s start with understanding a little about these cleanroom environments.

Cleanroom Labs – An Overview

The cleanroom workspaces are generally used to carry out procedures that require strict cleanliness and even a small airborne particle can hugely impact the ongoing process. The cleanrooms are designed in a way to control the particle limits in the workspaces and are majorly used in industries like:

• Medical and Surgical Equipment Production
• Electronic Devices and Semiconductor Manufacturing
• Aerospace

In all these industries and productions, it is highly required to maintain a strict level of cleanliness. As even little dust particles can create a huge risk for the consumers. So keeping the cleanroom strictly clean as per the Class 100 standards is important. But before moving to the ways to control particle contamination in cleanrooms, let’s first understand what it is.

How is Cleanroom Contamination Hazardous?

We all are well aware of what contamination is. If we go by definition, it simply means to make something impure or pollute them using dust or anything unclean. If we talk about contamination with reference to cleanrooms it means that there are polluting agents present in the cleanrooms. There are different types of sources that cause particle contamination in cleanrooms. How about we take a look at these types and sources for a better understanding of the terms.

Types of Contaminations and Contaminants

If we talk about the types, there are three major types of contamination in the cleanrooms.

Chemical, Biological, and Particulate contaminations. Here are some sources and contaminants:

• Human skin cells, hair, clothing, shoes, etc. can be one source of cleanroom contamination.
• Mishandling of equipment in the labs, the machines and tools being used in the workspaces may emit dust particles.
• Lab walls and surfaces also shed particles and become a reason for particle emission in the workspaces.
• Sometimes, even the ventilation systems used in the cleanrooms can be a source of airborne particles.

All these sources can become a reason for the contamination and further damage the cleanroom environment respectively. So to avoid the hazards caused by these sources, it is mandatory to follow proper control measures. Let’s now proceed with the rules and protocols to maintain a Class 100 cleanroom environment.

Cleanroom Contamination Control – Setup and Protocols

So far we have learned about what a cleanroom is and how particle contamination in these labs can cause huge damages. Now, we will learn the methods and ways using which we can prevent contaminants from entering the workspaces. While planning to set up an ISO 5 Certified Class 100 Clean Room Lab, it is mandatory to keep a few things in mind. Here we have listed the major requirements of a cleanroom setup.

• Proper layout of the Cleanroom Lab

While setting up a cleanroom, it is necessary to pan and choose the proper layout and design for the lab. Using the proper materials for the surface and walls can prevent the particle emission in the lab.

• Environmental Controls

In these workspaces, environmental factors also become a reason for cleanroom contamination. So it is necessary to use proper environment controls. Installation of HVAC(Humidity, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) systems majorly helps with maintaining the right environment in the labs.

• Filtration and Purifications

To prevent the particle contamination in cleanrooms, using proper air filtration and purification systems are mandatory. These systems help greatly to maintain strict cleanliness in the labs.

• Personnel Hygiene Protocols

Sometimes, humans also become a source of contamination in the workspaces. The skin cells, cloth particles or shoe dust act as contaminants in the cleanroom labs. So it is advised to follow the strict personnel hygiene protocols to keep the lab strictly clean.

All these are the rules that are necessary to follow while setting up a lab as per the Class 100 Cleanroom standards. These Cleanroom contamination protocols will help greatly in preventing the particles from entering the workspaces and maintaining complete cleanliness.

Once the cleanroom is set up, it is mandatory to keep monitoring and maintain the lab from any future contamination. Here are some tips for the maintenance of the cleanroom labs.

Maintenance and Prevention Measures for Cleanroom Labs

There are certain rules that will help you to maintain the cleanliness in the workspaces. These prevention measures will greatly help in monitoring the cleanroom conditions.

Rules for Personnel Using the Labs:

• For the personnel working in the cleanroom environments, it is mandatory to follow some rules to avoid contamination in the lab.
  • The first rule for the personnel is to strictly use cleanroom specified attires(suits, masks, hair covers, shoes) while entering the cleanrooms. This will prevent any human borne particles to enter the workspace preventing cleanroom contamination.
  • Next is proper training of the personnel as mishandling of the equipment can also cause particle contamination in cleanrooms.
• As for the cleanroom environment, it is important to maintain good air quality. It is advised to use highly clean air purifiers and filters to keep the lab clean as per the Class 100 standard.
• Temperature and humidity also play an important role in these labs. So environmental control systems should be installed and regularly monitored in the labs.
• Daily cleaning and monitoring in the workspaces will make it easy to detect any contamination in the lab and also help to disinfect them accordingly.

Conclusion

In this write up, we have discussed and learned about the cleanroom workspaces and how they get contaminated. We have talked about the possible source of contamination in the labs and how they can be prevented. We have also mentioned a few cleanroom contamination protocols that will help with the prevention of these contaminants to enter the workspaces.