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A cleanroom operator wearing full-body sterile garments, goggles, and a mask inspects a precision tool under bright, multi-colored ambient lighting in a sterile lab environment. Bottles of cleaning solutions are visible in the foreground.

SOPs for Critical Cleaning

This is Chapter 5 of Valutek's Technical Paper Series:
Standard Operating Procedures for Controlled Environments
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Overview

In cleanroom environments, routine facility cleaning isn't enough. Critical cleaning refers to the precise and validated procedures required for equipment, tools, and surfaces that come into direct contact with products or process media.

SOPs for critical cleaning help eliminate contamination at its source and are vital to quality assurance in high-stakes industries like microelectronics, life sciences, and aerospace.

By the end of Chapter 5, readers will understand how to:

  • Develop SOPs for product-contact surfaces and sensitive tools

  • Select and qualify cleanroom consumables for specific applications

  • Match cleaning chemistries to substrate and process risk

  • Validate cleaning effectiveness using standardized test methods

“Without documented SOPs for critical cleaning, facility operations and process quality are at risk.”

 

Explore More Resources

Continue deepening your understanding of SOPs for controlled environments:
Jan Eudy is a cleanroom/contamination control and microbiological subject matter expert with more than 30 years of industry experience in semiconductor, microelectronics, pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, medical device, food manufacturing, compounding pharmacies, aerospace, and automotive. As the corporate quality assurance manager for Cintas Corp., Jan oversaw research and development, directed the quality system and ISO registration at all cleanroom locations, and supported validation and sterile services. During her time with the company, Jan also implemented and maintained the HACCP risk management program at all Cintas industrial laundries. She is also a Past President and Fellow of the Institute for Environmental Sciences and Technology (IEST).

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