How Does Industrial Flooring Solve Compliance Issues in Pharmaceutical Facilities?

Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal facil­i­ties are gov­erned by a strin­gent set of reg­u­la­tions. Floor­ing is one aspect of a phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal lab­o­ra­to­ry that should meet rel­e­vant stan­dards set by gov­ern­ing bod­ies, and this arti­cle will dis­cuss how the right indus­tri­al floor­ing can help busi­ness­es stay compliant. 

How Indus­tri­al Floor­ing Can Solve Com­pli­ance Issues in Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal Facilities

Com­pli­ance Chal­lenges in Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal Facilities

Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals are a high­ly reg­u­lat­ed indus­try for many rea­sons. As a man­u­fac­tur­er of med­ical sup­plies, what you do has a mas­sive impact on patients’ safe­ty and lives. These med­i­c­i­nal sup­plies may even put the public’s health at risk if not close­ly mon­i­tored and test­ed to ensure qual­i­ty, safe­ty, and effi­ca­cy. It’s no won­der why such strin­gent rules and reg­u­la­tions are implemented.

Most aspects of phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal oper­a­tions are heav­i­ly reg­u­lat­ed. Reg­u­la­to­ry scruti­ny occurs in pre­clin­i­cal work and test­ing, clin­i­cal tri­als and oper­a­tions, and man­u­fac­tur­ing. Some rules gov­ern sales and mar­ket­ing, patient pri­va­cy, and drug price report­ing. With so many require­ments, ensur­ing com­pli­ance can become a challenge.

Anoth­er chal­lenge is keep­ing up with ever-chang­ing rules and reg­u­la­tions. How­ev­er, non-com­pli­ance is not an option, as the ram­i­fi­ca­tions of not com­ply­ing can be seri­ous; it can dam­age the company’s rep­u­ta­tion and finances, even harm­ing cus­tomers. A phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal com­pa­ny could face legal and crim­i­nal con­se­quences as well.

The Role of Floor­ing in Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal Compliance

When it comes to com­pli­ance, the first things that will prob­a­bly come to mind are the pro­ce­dures and tech­nol­o­gy used by the com­pa­ny. How­ev­er, those are not the only busi­ness aspects sub­ject to strin­gent rules and reg­u­la­tions. Floor­ing sys­tems must also adhere to Good Man­u­fac­tur­ing Prac­tice (GMP) prin­ci­ples and com­ply with guide­lines set by oth­er rel­e­vant reg­u­la­to­ry bodies.

Keep­ing a clean and safe work­ing envi­ron­ment is a cru­cial reg­u­la­tion that phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal com­pa­nies should fol­low. This involves installing a suit­able phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal floor­ing sys­tem and keep­ing it in its best shape. The wrong type or poor­ly main­tained floor­ing can increase the risk of trips, slips, and fall accidents.

Addi­tion­al­ly, floor­ing may con­tribute to prod­uct con­t­a­m­i­na­tion. Harm­ful bac­te­ria and mold may accu­mu­late in the floor’s gaps and crevices.

Spe­cif­ic floor­ing sys­tem guide­lines in phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal com­pa­nies may vary depend­ing on your loca­tion. Gen­er­al­ly, the floor must be easy to clean and resis­tant to chem­i­cal spills, micro­bial con­t­a­m­i­na­tion, and heavy equip­ment. Also, the floor must be slip-resis­tant, non-porous, and seam­less. These fea­tures reduce the risks of acci­dents and guar­an­tee work­er safety.

Key Char­ac­ter­is­tics of Indus­tri­al Floor­ing for Pharmaceuticals

Let’s dis­cuss the key char­ac­ter­is­tics of floor­ing in the phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal indus­try in more detail.

• Chem­i­cal resis­tance – Chem­i­cal spillage and clean­ing agents are com­mon in phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal facil­i­ties. To pre­vent floor dam­age and bac­te­r­i­al accu­mu­la­tion, you must select floor­ing that can with­stand expo­sure to chem­i­cal agents.

• Tem­per­a­ture resis­tance – This fea­ture is par­tic­u­lar­ly cru­cial in areas exposed to extreme tem­per­a­tures. It includes test­ing lab­o­ra­to­ries, stor­age rooms, and clean rooms.

• Slip resis­tance – This fea­ture is nec­es­sary in pre­vent­ing slip and fall acci­dents in the work­place. A slip-resis­tant floor cre­ates pos­i­tive trac­tion, reduc­ing the pos­si­bil­i­ty of acci­dents and injuries.

• Non-porous and seam­less sur­faces – In the phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal indus­try, non-porous floor­ing is nec­es­sary to pre­vent the build-up of dirt and bac­te­ria. The sur­face should also be seam­less to make main­te­nance easier.

• Durable – Some areas of a phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal facil­i­ty are exposed to heavy foot traf­fic. Wheeled fork­lifts, pal­let trucks, and oth­er equip­ment also like­ly go in and out of the facil­i­ty. Hence, the floor should be durable enough to with­stand the rig­or of dai­ly operations.

• Aes­thet­ics – While func­tion­al­i­ty is cru­cial, it is also essen­tial to con­sid­er the flooring’s aes­thet­ics. Most indus­tri­al floor­ing sys­tems offer many cus­tomiza­tion options so facil­i­ty own­ers and man­agers can cre­ate cohe­sive and visu­al­ly appeal­ing environments.

Even phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal stor­age facil­i­ties should con­sid­er the afore­men­tioned char­ac­ter­is­tics when choos­ing ware­house floor­ing. Floors with those fea­tures enable stor­age and dis­tri­b­u­tion cen­ters to main­tain strict hygiene and safe­ty protocols.

Pre­vent­ing Con­t­a­m­i­na­tion With Prop­er Flooring

In a phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal facil­i­ty, con­t­a­m­i­na­tion can quick­ly turn into a night­mare with harmed con­sumers, recalls, prof­it loss, and a dam­aged rep­u­ta­tion. That’s why it’s cru­cial to pre­vent con­t­a­m­i­na­tion from becom­ing an issue dur­ing your production.

There are var­i­ous strate­gies for pre­vent­ing con­t­a­m­i­na­tion, and installing prop­er floor­ing is one of them. Peo­ple and vehi­cles may car­ry harm­ful microor­gan­isms and for­eign mat­ter when they enter the facil­i­ty. These harm­ful bac­te­ria can accu­mu­late in the hard-to-reach cracks, seams, and creas­es of the floor and even spread in the air, end­ing up in places they shouldn’t be.

Qual­i­ty floor­ing with antibac­te­r­i­al or antimi­cro­bial agents can help in pre­vent­ing con­t­a­m­i­na­tion. These types of indus­tri­al floor­ing can keep your floor free of mold and oth­er microor­gan­isms. Floor­ing rat­ed as antibac­te­r­i­al should be non-porous and seam­less. This means any spill won’t seep through the floor, leav­ing bac­te­ria with no place to hide.

On the oth­er hand, antimi­cro­bial floors can deter the growth of mildew, fun­gi, and bac­te­ria. They can also pre­vent odors and stains from stick­ing to the floor so it stays clean and visu­al­ly appealing.

Choos­ing the Right Indus­tri­al Flooring

When it’s time for a new floor instal­la­tion or replace­ment in your phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal facil­i­ty, you’ll need to choose between con­crete, ure­thane, and epoxy floor­ing. Pol­ished con­crete floor­ing sys­tems are known for their excel­lent dura­bil­i­ty and ele­gant appear­ance. Epoxy floor­ing in the phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal indus­try is also durable, offer­ing great versatility. 

Con­sid­er the fac­tors below when mak­ing your choice.

Instal­la­tion Conditions

How fast do you need a new floor? How much down­time can your facil­i­ty afford? The instal­la­tion dura­tion varies depend­ing on the type of indus­tri­al floor­ing. Hence, con­sid­er the time it will take to install the floor­ing, espe­cial­ly if you need it done urgently.

Envi­ron­ment

Con­sid­er the envi­ron­ment when choos­ing a floor type. For exam­ple, if you are installing floor­ing in a tem­per­a­ture-con­trolled envi­ron­ment, like stor­age, the best choice will be floor­ing with ther­mal resis­tance properties.

Oth­er Floor­ing Needs

Since every phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal facil­i­ty is unique, always assess your facility’s needs. Your facil­i­ty may require oth­er fea­tures not on the list of rec­om­men­da­tions above.

Style

Aes­thet­ics also mat­ter, espe­cial­ly for areas vis­i­ble to vis­i­tors and stake­hold­ers. So, you can choose the appro­pri­ate col­ors, pat­terns, and fin­ish­es that ade­quate­ly rep­re­sent your brand and the mes­sages you want to convey.

Bud­get

Although it is always rec­om­mend­ed to choose a floor­ing sys­tem that match­es your facility’s require­ments, your bud­get will still play a role in your deci­sion. When cal­cu­lat­ing the cost of indus­tri­al floor­ing, ensure you cal­cu­late the price of the mate­r­i­al and instal­la­tion service. 

Main­te­nance

Keep­ing floors in a phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal facil­i­ty clean and ster­ile is vital for the safe­ty of the prod­ucts and peo­ple. The main­te­nance require­ments of floor­ing mate­ri­als vary, so it’s wise to deter­mine how much effort or mon­ey you’re will­ing to spend keep­ing the floors safe and well-maintained.

Keep Com­pli­ant With Kaloutas’ Floor­ing Solutions

Floor­ing may seem like an insignif­i­cant part of a prop­er­ty, but it’s more than just a sur­face to step on. It can affect the safe­ty of peo­ple who enter your space, the qual­i­ty of man­u­fac­tured med­ical sup­plies, and many oth­er things. Installing the wrong type of floor­ing can put your phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal com­pa­ny in a lot of trouble. 

When it’s time for new indus­tri­al floor­ing, the Kaloutas team can help choose and install the per­fect floor­ing for your phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal needs. Our floor installers are also trained and updat­ed with indus­try com­pli­ance require­ments, so we’ll make sure the floor meets the stan­dards of applic­a­ble rules and reg­u­la­tions. We offer a wide range of indus­tri­al floor­ing solu­tions and guar­an­tee qual­i­ty work. 

If you want to know more about what the floors are in the phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal indus­try, please feel free to talk to our experts.