SOP for mixing cleaning chemicals
hello guys, I'm in charge of creating our company's cleaning system. one of the procedures required is the procedure on mixing cleaning chemicals. I would like to seek your assistance on the following:
1. do i also need to declare in the procedure the storage and shelf life of each mixed cleaning chemical?
2. do i also need to declare the tools i use to mix the chemicals? (i only use beaker to measure the quantity of the chemical per liter of water and use a carboy as container)
3. or do i just declare how the chemicals are mixed? (ex: 4 ml of quarternary per 1 liter of distilled/filtered water)
thank you guys.
Dear revo,
Are you including sanitising chemicals within "cleaning". if so, there are sometimes safety issues involved also, eg for peracetic acid.
If not I usually use the minimum info., eg No.3, within a general cleaning schedule and create a backup manual to index manufacturer instructions for validation purposes.
But I also create relatively more detailed SOPs for the people who do the hard work, eg lifting / mixing, etc eg "beware of items which have the same colour" :smile: . i daresay there are some SOP examples on this forum already (somewhere).
Rgds / Charles.C
Some retailers will require the make up procedure to be clearly documents and relevant employees trained against this. Where the chemical concentration is critical to its effective action (disinfection) and where the make up procedure is very manual in nature then this makes a lot of sense. Your procedure should allow for verification of made up chemical concentrations (your supplier will usually supply you with a kit to do this) particularly where the system is not automatic.
Chemicals are usually the most expensive cost in your cleaning program (not labor as most of us usually imagine) so a good, well define procedure can save you money. (More chemical does not make for more effective cleaning)
George
Dear revo,
Are you including sanitising chemicals within "cleaning". if so, there are sometimes safety issues involved also, eg for peracetic acid.
If not I usually use the minimum info., eg No.3, within a general cleaning schedule and create a backup manual to index manufacturer instructions for validation purposes.
But I also create relatively more detailed SOPs for the people who do the hard work, eg lifting / mixing, etc eg "beware of items which have the same colour" :smile: . i daresay there are some SOP examples on this forum already (somewhere).
Rgds / Charles.C
Hi Charles,
I'm thinking if the mixing and preparation procedure should be included in the cleaning management system or should it be separate as support document?
Rgds,
Revo
Some retailers will require the make up procedure to be clearly documents and relevant employees trained against this. Where the chemical concentration is critical to its effective action (disinfection) and where the make up procedure is very manual in nature then this makes a lot of sense. Your procedure should allow for verification of made up chemical concentrations (your supplier will usually supply you with a kit to do this) particularly where the system is not automatic.
Chemicals are usually the most expensive cost in your cleaning program (not labor as most of us usually imagine) so a good, well define procedure can save you money. (More chemical does not make for more effective cleaning)
George
Hi George,
We'll just use a quaternary and chlorine based chemicals for cleaning and sanitizing. However, verification of concentration is only applicable to the quaternary based chemical. I don't know if it's true though.
Rgds,
Revo
Hi Charles,
I'm thinking if the mixing and preparation procedure should be included in the cleaning management system or should it be separate as support document?
Rgds,
Revo
Dear revo,
IMEX there is no standardised format. ISO would probably use WIs. It's up to you. Some people even do it with a series of (actual) step-by-step photos which can be quite effective, internal operation-wise.
But auditors often like to see a condensed overall tabulation of some kind. saves their time. :smile:
Rgds / Charles.C
We'll just use a quaternary and chlorine based chemicals for cleaning and sanitizing. However, verification of concentration is only applicable to the quaternary based chemical. I don't know if it's true though.
I think you can verify both quaternary and chlorine based chemicals. Chlorine normally verify by monitor free residual chlorine in the solution either by paper strip tests or color comparison.