This document summarizes the relationship between standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization's Technical Committee 209 (ISO/TC 209) and guidance documents developed by the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology's (IEST) Contamination Control Division. ISO/TC 209 focuses on developing international cleanroom standards, while IEST provides more comprehensive guidance documents that complement the ISO standards. These IEST documents provide additional details on methods, materials, and practices to help with applying the ISO standards. The document outlines the key ISO cleanroom standards and lists related IEST recommended practices and other documents that provide supplemental guidance.
This document summarizes the relationship between standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization's Technical Committee 209 (ISO/TC 209) and guidance documents developed by the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology's (IEST) Contamination Control Division. ISO/TC 209 focuses on developing international cleanroom standards, while IEST provides more comprehensive guidance documents that complement the ISO standards. These IEST documents provide additional details on methods, materials, and practices to help with applying the ISO standards. The document outlines the key ISO cleanroom standards and lists related IEST recommended practices and other documents that provide supplemental guidance.
This document summarizes the relationship between standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization's Technical Committee 209 (ISO/TC 209) and guidance documents developed by the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology's (IEST) Contamination Control Division. ISO/TC 209 focuses on developing international cleanroom standards, while IEST provides more comprehensive guidance documents that complement the ISO standards. These IEST documents provide additional details on methods, materials, and practices to help with applying the ISO standards. The document outlines the key ISO cleanroom standards and lists related IEST recommended practices and other documents that provide supplemental guidance.
This document summarizes the relationship between standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization's Technical Committee 209 (ISO/TC 209) and guidance documents developed by the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology's (IEST) Contamination Control Division. ISO/TC 209 focuses on developing international cleanroom standards, while IEST provides more comprehensive guidance documents that complement the ISO standards. These IEST documents provide additional details on methods, materials, and practices to help with applying the ISO standards. The document outlines the key ISO cleanroom standards and lists related IEST recommended practices and other documents that provide supplemental guidance.
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Beyond the ISO Cleanroom Standards—
Comprehensive Guidance from IEST By Roberta Burrows, Technical Advisor for ISO/TC 209 Secretariat, IEST and Anne Marie Dixon-Heathman, US Head of Delegation to ISO/TC 209 and IEST Working Group Chair
Balancing the Needs of Global Uniformity and Specific Applications
An example of IEST’s nonprofit mission to aid industry and government in overcoming knowledge barriers can be seen in the inter-relationship of guidance documents developed by the IEST Contamination Control Division with standards developed by ISO Technical Committee 209 (ISO/TC 209) Cleanrooms and associated controlled environments. For IEST, the broad mission includes Recommended Practices (RP), Standards (STD), and Guides (G) that together embody the most complete range of contamination control resources currently available. For ISO/TC 209, the goal is a defined focus on a generic body of overarching international cleanroom standards under the ISO 14644 and ISO 14698 series. Together, the two sets of resources balance the need for a globally uniform set of requirements along with the demand for application-specific guidance.
IEST (in its earlier iteration as IES) has led the development of cleanroom guidance documents since the 1970s. In the 1980s, IES(T) was designated by the US General Services Administration as the Preparing Activity organization for US FED-STD-209, the recognized national classification guidance for cleanroom air cleanliness. By the 1990s, a growing global marketplace found itself grappling with a score of national cleanroom classification standards. Compounding the problem, a different numerical term was used to describe the air cleanliness level depending on country of operation. For example, a cleanroom currently designated as ISO Class 5 would have been known in 1990 as FED-STD-209E M3.5/100 in the United States, A+B under the European cGMP, 4 000 in France, 3 in Germany, E or F in Great Britain, and 5 in Japan. This manufacturing and regulatory nightmare led IEST to petition for the creation of an ISO technical committee to establish international consensus, not only for air cleanliness classification but also for test methods, design criteria, and operational procedures. ISO/TC 209 was launched in 1992. IEST has continuously served as Secretariat to ISO/TC 209, Administrator to the US Technical Advisory Group, and has provided numerous experts and Convenors for ISO Working Groups.
As seen in the previous example of the myriad classification levels, ISO standards are developed specifically to ensure consistent international use that achieves global uniformity of products and practices. However, this obligation creates documents that are necessarily generic in approach. The ISO Standards contain the “what you shall achieve” but often rely on accredited standards developing organizations (SDOs) such as IEST to fill in the details regarding the who, what, why, where, when, and how—the foundational knowledge needed to successfully apply the Standards. Due to the strength of their content,
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IEST Recommended Practices often serve as references within the ISO/TC 209 Standards. IEST Recommended Practices offer guidelines for methods, materials, and practices that can assist both the customer and supplier in improving processes and products.
In the ISO 14644 Standards, each document’s proposed scope is analyzed to clearly identify the characteristics to be standardized. While both Standards and Recommended Practices provide specifications, an ISO Standard generally provides specifications recognized as needing uniform application as a requirement, while a Recommended Practice provides specifications recognized as desirable and recommended. IEST Recommended Practices can represent a leading-edge concept or a proven model or practice. Use of both the ISO Standards and IEST resources is voluntary, although they may be referenced in contracts between a customer and supplier, or incorporated into national or local regulations.
Table 1—ISO/TC 209 Standards and related IEST Documents.
Document IEST Related Recommended Practices (RP), Title of Part Number Standards (STD), Guides (G) ISO 14644-1:2015 Classification of air cleanliness by particle RP-CC 001, 002, 006, 007, 014, 019, 021, 034, 042; G- (Ed. 2) concentration CC1003, G-CC1004 Monitoring to provide evidence of ISO 14644-2:2015 cleanroom performance related to air RP-CC 005, 023, 046, 049 (Ed. 2) cleanliness by particle concentration
ISO 14644-3:2005 Test methods RP-CC 001, 002, 006, 007, 013, 014, 019, 021, 034, 036
ISO 14644-10:2013 RP-CC 031, 035, 042, 901, 902 chemical concentration Specifications for monitoring air ISO/DIS 14644-12 cleanliness by nanoscale particle RP-NANO 200, 205 concentration Cleaning of surfaces to achieve defined ISO 14644-13:2017 levels of cleanlinesss in terms of particle RP-CC 026, 901, 902 and chemical classifications Assessment of suitability for use of ISO 14644-14:2016 equipment by airborne particle RP-CC 016, 026, 042, 044 concentration Assessment of suitability for use of ISO 14644-15:2017 equipment and materials by airborne RP-CC 016, 026, 042, 044, 901, 902 chemical concentration Code of practice for improving energy ISO/CD 14644-16 efficiency in cleanrooms and clean air RP-CC 012 devices Biocontamination control -- Part 1: ISO 14698-1:2003 General principles and methods RP-CC 003, 004, 005, 018, 023, 026, 027, 048 ISO 14698-2:2003 Part 2: Evaluation and interpretation of biocontamination data
DIS = Draft International Standard; CD = Committee Draft
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Table 1 provides an update of a previous table in use by industry to select IEST resources that assist with the understanding or application of related ISO/TC 209 Standards. The table lists the current ISO/TC 209 Standard or draft standard and the IEST Recommended Practice(s) and other documents that provide additional detail, methods, or guidance.
Table 2 provides the complete titles of the IEST documents. The scopes for all ISO/TC 209 and IEST documents can be viewed on the IEST website www.iest.org within the IEST Bookstore.
Table 2—IEST Contamination Control Division Published Resources.
IEST-RP-CC044: Vacuum Cleaning Systems for Cleanrooms and Controlled Environments
IEST-RP-CC049: Controlled Environments for Regulated Industries
IEST-STD-CC1246: Product Cleanliness Levels – Applications, Requirements, and Determination
IEST-RP-NANO200: Planning of Nanoscale Science and Technology Facilities: Guidelines for Design, Construction, and Start-up
IEST-RP-NANO205: Nanotechnology Safety: Application of Prevention Through Design Principles to Nanotechnology Facilities
IEST-G-CC035: Design Considerations for Airborne Molecular Contamination Filtration Systems in Cleanrooms and Other Controlled Environments
IEST G-CC1001: Counting Airborne Particles for Classification and Monitoring of Cleanrooms and Clean Zones
IEST G-CC1002: Determination of the Concentration of Airborne Ultrafine Particles
IEST G-CC1003: Measurement of Airborne Macroparticles
IEST G-CC1004: Sequential-Sampling Plan for Use in Classification of the Particulate Cleanliness of Air in Cleanrooms and Clean Zones
An organization does not need to be engaged in using the ISO Standards to benefit from the guidance and support of the IEST Recommended Practices, Standards, and Guides. A review of the titles in Table 2 shows a wide range of guidance, with documents applicable to nearly any organization involved in cleanrooms and controlled environments.
To view further information regarding Recommended Practices, ISO/TC 209 Standards, and other technical documents for purchase from IEST, visit the IEST website and Bookstore. If you are interested in actively participating in the development of IEST Recommended Practices, we welcome you to observe a Working Group meeting during the IEST ESTECH Annual Technical Meeting held each spring or the IEST Fall Conference. Details on the upcoming meetings can be found on the IEST website.
Roberta Burrows is the Technical Advisor to IEST, the Secretariat to ISO/TC 209 on behalf of ANSI. She has served on the ISO/TC 209 Secretariat leadership team for twenty years.
Anne Marie Dixon-Heathman is the US Head of Delegation to ISO/TC 209, Convenor of ISO/TC 209 Working Group 10 Nanotechnologies, Chair of IEST Working Groups 18, 26, 49.
IEST is the leading global nonprofit contamination control society and Secretariat for ISO Technical Committee 209 (ISO/TC 209), the committee developing the ISO 14644 Standards. IEST has served as the Secretariat for ISO/TC 209 for more than 25 years with an established international leadership role based on more than 45 years of expertise in cleanrooms and controlled environments.
