A new level of gownroom management engages the wearers as partners in the solution

DILIGENTLY RE-BIDDING CLEANROOM LAUNDRY SERVICE isn’t the only thing that you can do to manage cleanroom garment costs. The gownroom is the venue where the cleanroom garment program must perform. The authors of this article argue for placing the garment wearer at the center of the process, and re-imagining the discreet laundry contract as a component of a broader cleanroom garment system. This article explains how end users can contribute to inflated laundry bills through massive over-consumption of garments dueto their needs not being met.

Gownrooms are the gateway to any cleanroom and help set expectations for cleanroom behavior. The concentrated five minutes that employees spend in gownrooms offers an opportunity to communicate with them. An efficient cleanroom garment programincludes empathy, support, and value for employees and their contributions.

The gownroom is also of course ground zero for any contamination control program. There is no other time or place when your employees must truly turn up for work. When they enter the gownroom, employees must be alert to the crucial part they play by paying careful attention to gowning requirements. However, human beings as garment wearers still introduce a large portion of the total contamination found in cleanrooms, despite the improved fabrics and bettertraining and protocols.

Donning cleanroom garments isn’t, or shouldn’t be, a major challenge for most people. Yet all the investments in garment systems,gownroom infrastructure, and contamination control systems are undermined whenevera worker interprets gowning and garment use requirements loosely.

It is in gownrooms every day that thousands of individual employees’ decisionsmake or break both the cost and effectiveness of a cleanroom garment program.When a cleanroom worker opens three sealed garments to find one that “feels” rightfor him, or when an engineer frustrated at never finding her suit on her hangerautomatically pulls a new suit from the pass-thru every time she has to enterthe room, they are both making decisions that will inflate cleanroom garmentcosts. Bills that will be generated at the laundry are incurred in the gownroom.

The gownroom is where the need to protect a clean environment from human contamination meets human nature. The reality is that, for a host of reasons, people simply don’t like cleanroom uniforms. Yet at the beginning of every shift, employees must conform with a process that many dislike and find frustrating — at precisely the time when they need to be particularly attentive and focused. During this awkward, uncomfortable process of gowning and going to work, any shortcoming in the system can be construed as lack of confidence in the entire process, and become justification for disregarding usage guidelines; resulting in exploding costs.

We know from psychology that the quality of life of our employees has a direct impact on the quality of the product or service being produced. We all want motivated employees; workers who are attentive, proactive, and problem-solvers. The key to achieving that is creating a sense that individuals are respected, understood, and valued. So it is in the gownrooms and the five minutes spent there six to nine times per day that makes the difference. Once the experience of gowning is no longer an irritation, compliance improves, reducing use and cost. Structured and supported gownroom experiences help foster motivation by communicating through actions that individual wearers are valued and encouraging them to gown carefully and adhere to the system.

If no one is looking out for the wearers, the wearers simply take matters into their own hands by making on-the-spot decisions about garment use. An efficient, effective program can remedy this and reduce costs at the same time.