Modular Clean Room facilities incorporate a variety of preventative materials, equipment and devices to maintain a highly clean, germ-and-bacteria-free environment. Some of this equipment is for extensive personnel protection, while other pieces are designed to maintain clean air in the workplace. Clean rooms are typically used for manufacturing and scientific research operations that require processes or materials that are incredibly sensitive to dust, static electricity, or various types of microparticles and microorganisms. For instance, computer parts often have small parts that cannot be contaminated by dust before they are assembled into a final housing.

Clean rooms are used for production and research and commonly featured elements such as HVAC system, air showers, special garments for workers to wear, and anti-static devices in order to limit contamination or damage to the workplace environment. Because of the varied nature of clean room work, clean room facilities are available in portable and modular designs as well as fixed building structures.

Clean rooms are often needed for emergency work and short run production jobs. For emergency work, there are modular, temporary clean room structures that can be constructed in a short period of time and disassembled when the job is over. These types of portable clean rooms can be assembled outdoors and in existing facilities, such as warehouses. Many portable and temporary clean rooms are constructed as “softwall” clean rooms, meaning their walls are constructed from transparent polymers. Typically, softwall and other types of modular clean rooms can be fitted with portable or small-scale HVAC system, anti-static devices and garment change facilities just like permanent clean rooms, and can maintain similar levels of clean room sterility.

Clean rooms are graded according to cleanliness standards maintained by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). These quantified grades represent the number of particles 0.1 micrometers or larger permitted per cubic meter of air. The number is further standardized by having the ISO grade correspond to a logarithm for determining particle count. For example, ISO 3 clean rooms feature a maximum of 103 particles per meter cubed, or 1000 particles.

Depending on the official grade of the clean room and the types of materials manufactured or used in the facility, there are a wide variety of accessories available for clean room use and labor. For instance, some computer parts can easily be damaged by static build up, so anti-static garments, floor mats and bracelet/anklet devices should be equipped for static prevention. Additionally, cleaning devices that target specific items, like worker shoes, can be installed in a facility. Most types of standard pieces of laboratory equipment are available in “clean” versions, which are Clean Room Equipment pieces that have been modified or enhanced specifically for a clean room environment.