While the advanced air filtration systems in modern cleanroom HVACs trap most dust particles, cross contamination from dust is still a concern. Dense dust, which has high water content, and metal-containing dust can easily find its way into cleanrooms via things like the corrosion of faucets and plumbing or technician clothing. A careful protocol is necessary to remove these dust particles and avoid spreading contaminates during cleaning.
Floors
Do not sweep or mop cleanroom or lab floors. Sweeping loosens dust particles and circulates them through the air. They then settle back onto other surfaces. Traditional mopping will simply spread contaminates from one place to another.
Instead, replace brooms with high-filtration vacuum cleaners. These are available as both canisters and backpacks provide high and low vacuuming, and they offer the flexibility to access hard-to-reach areas. Mops should be replaced with auto vacs. With these machines, you apply cleaning solution directly to the floor and the vac provides agitation to help loosen contaminates and vacuums them up.
Other surfaces (desks and counters)
Traditional cleaning for these surfaces includes sprayers and cleaning cloths. With dust, it is important to follow a few special rules to avoid spreading particles around. Always use a microfiber cleaning cloth. Additionally, only use cloths and pats of cloths that are clean. Smart towels can be folded into quadrants to provide more fresh cloth surfaces.
With dust, it’s also important to spray solution on the cloth rather than the surface to avoid sending particles airborne. Once you’ve removed the dust, you will clean the surface again by applying the solution to the surface and wiping with a clean, dry microfiber.
Flat-surface cleaning systems are also available as an alternative to sprays and cloths. These systems have a chemical injection system that delivers a cleaning solution to a microfiber wipe and then a squeegee removes excess liquid from the surface.
The biggest difference in cleaning dust versus other cleaning is that you have to avoid sending the dust airborne. With a few adjustments to your regular cleaning routine, you can effectively capture the dust first. When there is no dust present, applying a cleaning solution to the surface before wiping is still recommended.
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