Keeping cleanrooms contaminant-free is a fundamentally crucial goal. When contaminants enter a cleanroom, it can cost a significant amount of money to remediate the facility. In extreme cases, the cost of a fast-spreading fungal, viral or bacterial infection can be human lives.
What Is A Cleanroom?
Cleanrooms are designed to prevent particle entry, purge and filter air, provide different areas for different levels of cleanliness, and isolate spaces and air pressure as needed. However, the design of the cleanroom is not enough to keep it clean.
Why Is A Consistent Gowning Procedure Important?
Some of the biggest contaminators in a cleanroom are people. Without a strict and consistent gowning and degowning procedure, you run the risk of undoing all that your cleanroom cleaning process does to protect your critical environments.
It is vital that everyone who enters a cleanroom understands the importance of following the procedures put in place to keep cleanrooms.
- Cleanroom Gowning Procedure: Best Practices
- Covering Up (Gowning) Steps.
- Prepare for Gowning Benches.
- Remove jewelry, makeup, heavy coats, sweatshirts and other "extra" items
- Check that the tacky mat is fresh: if not, slowly pull it up toward the center and replace it with a clean tacky mat.
- Step on the tacky mat three times, rotating to make sure your entire shoe contacts the mat.
- Inside the room, prepare all the materials you'll need.
As you gown, take a "top-down" approach, starting at your head and working your way down.
- Put on a cap and beard cover.
- Check to make sure all hair is covered.
- Select, inspect, clean, and then put on safety glasses or goggles.
- Put on one layer of gloves (this set of gloves is considered your "gowning gloves" set).
- Put on a coverall gown.
- Ensure that the gown never touches the floor by gathering leg and arm cuffs and then releasing them one at a time.
- If a separate hood is part of the gown, tuck the shoulder panels inside and under the gown before you zip.
- Don shoe covers, one at a time as you step over the line or bench.
Note: Take extreme care to avoid contaminating the room's clean side with any contact from the dirty side.
Put on the second pair of gloves over the first and stretch them over the gown sleeve cuffs.