Cleaning, Decontamination, Sterilization
Read more »tainless steel is a key material in cleanrooms and other controlled environments due to its resistance to corrosion and ability to be easily cleaned and sterilized. However, stainless steel must be properly cleaned and maintained to ensure its long-term durability and performance.
In this post, we will discuss stainless steel cleaning methods and techniques, as well as some tips on effectively cleaning and maintaining stainless steel surfaces.
Read more »ULPA filtration vacuums are an indispensable tool when staring down challenging or potentially hazardous spills and messes in a laboratory or production environment. The most formidable of these messes typically include hazardous, poisonous, irritating, or nausea-inducing dust and powders that are fine enough to be aerosolized and distributed through the air as. To prevent aerosolized particle generation during cleanup and removal, specialized HEPA or ULPA vacuums are used to remove, capture, and contain these substances before safely disposing of them.
Read more »As humans are the primary source of contamination in cleanroom and lab environments, cleanroom-compliant hand washers, sinks and hand dryers play a critical role in reducing bioburden and viable particle counts within sterile spaces.
Read more »When searching for "True" HEPA filters, H13, or IEST rated HEPA filters, not all classifications of HEPA filters are created equal. There are numerous groups and classifications that further distill HEPA performance ratings into more specific performance categories.
Terra’s HEPA and ULPA filters are specially designed for use in cleanrooms, labs, and precision assembly areas. They come in a wide range of sizes for use in Terra work stations, cleanrooms, and many other applications. They can also be used as final filtration in standalone purification systems.
Read more »Check out our list of Dos and Don’ts in a cleanroom, a summary of cleanroom best practices for making the controlled environment function at peak performance. These are good resources for new cleanroom operators or those unsure about what steps to take in a cleanroom environment.
Read more »Cleaning a laminar flow hood sounds like a self-explanatory task, but there are plenty of factors to consider when the stakes of sterilization include the integrity of your products. Even more importantly, a clean laminar flow hood helps ensure the safety of patients and consumers on the receiving end of those products.
Read more »Most cleanroom professionals understand that Fan/Filter Units (FFUs) capture contaminants that degrade particle-sensitive samples. But they also remove bacteria, viruses and mold spores that contribute to a host of infections.
With the threat of superbugs on the rise in medical facilities, sterilization has never been more crucial. Superbugs, or drug-resistant bacteria that cannot be killed by standard antibiotics, have the potential to cause infections that are increasingly difficult to cure. The number of deaths related to these bacteria is decreasing. But the bugs, and the danger, remain present.
Until new cures are developed to battle bacteria, the solution to preventing the spread of germs is to update cleanliness procedures in hospitals, pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities and other places where drugs are regularly developed or used. Hand-washing can push back against the threat, but
- Categories: Cleaning, Decontamination, Sterilization
Read more »Many manufacturers face the challenge of maintaining sterile products and processes. In most cases, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Highly effective sterilization technologies like ethylene oxide gas (EtO) or hydrogen peroxide vapor carry substantial risk and often come at a high cost. Frequent manual wipe-down with IPA or other cleaning agents is much less expensive but introduces difficulties related to operator training and process documentation and consistency. In many cases, the challenge amounts to managing multiple technologies that provide microbial control throughout widely differing processes—while minimizing costly disruptions for bioburden testing or decontamination routines.
Fortunately, ultraviolet sanitizing technology provides a range of safe, cost-effective disinfection measures that simplify this task, whether employed as a stand-alone measure or as part of a broader
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Manufacturers invest hundreds—even thousands—of dollars per square foot of cleanroom space to meet ISO-proscribed particle counts. Shouldn't the same standards be required of the people who enter and potentially contaminate this ultra-clean environment?
Proper cleanroom garments, including hoods, face masks, booties and gloves, help to contain particles that people emit. Yet improper gowning procedures can negate your investment in cleanliness and threaten yields of sensitive semiconductor devices. Once a garment is contaminated—violated by contact with a dirty surface—it spreads particles everywhere it goes.
You can train personnel on proper garmenting procedures, but how do you guarantee compliance? A violated garment doesn't set off alarms, and few facilities can afford quality control monitors to supervise every person through every washing and dressing stage. Yet if strict controls are not obser
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Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacterium. Photo credit: CDC
Controlling microbial contamination is one of the leading concerns in research, clinical, and medical facilities. Microorganisms (hazardous or not) can put personnel, patients and caregivers at risk. In hospital and medical facilities, patients are often immuno-compromised or have serious conditions that make them particularly susceptible to opportunistic microbes or secondary infections.
For these reasons, many products are available for decontamination of these critical spaces. There are differences in product effectiveness, cost, potential residual damage and operation
