A pharmaceutical space being disinfected with person in PPE

Contributed by ABM

Cleanroom environments already require the most stringent cleaning protocols possible. With the introduction of COVID-19, those requirements are even more rigorous and extend beyond the production environment; offices and common areas now require disinfection as well. The onus is on facility managers to implement a disinfection program throughout all environments and give consumers assurance that their products are safe.

Implementing Disinfection in All of Your Environments

Because of the wide range of environments in pharmaceutical facilities, disinfection programs should begin with an assessment. Which high-touch points require disinfection? How often? Which products, supplies, and chemicals are needed to disinfect effectively and promote healthy hand hygiene? How will chemicals, practices and frequencies differ for cleanroom vs. non-cleanroom environments?

Starting with an assessment gives managers the chance to answer these questions. What is gleaned from it should inform the practical day-to-day steps necessary to sanitize the facility. This multi-pronged approach ensures that managers consider all of the aspects that will promote the health of the facility and products. The ideal plan should include frequent disinfection of high-touch points, as well as broader disinfection, which utilizes electrostatic sprayers to disinfect the space as a whole.

Making Expert Guidance Actionable

To adequately respond to the pandemic, programs should incorporate guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration around which chemicals and practices are most effective. The industry is still learning new information every day about COVID-19. As new guidance is released, managers need to be able to adopt those recommendations. That includes changing training protocols, implementing new supplies and chemicals, and technologies.

Incorporating expert guidance – and communicating it – will help ease employee and customer concerns around the safety of the environments and products.

Article contributed by Lane Williams, vice president of Sales at ABM.