What is BS EN 13205-6 - Airborne particle concentrations about?
BS EN 13205-6 specifies a performance test of loaded collection substrates for samplers for the inhalable, thoracic or respirable aerosol fractions and, as alternative, a handling test, both for testing transport losses of aerosol sampler substrates under prescribed conditions in order to calculate the expanded uncertainty of a measuring procedure according to EN 13205-1:2014, Annex A. The transport test involves shipping loaded substrates with ordinary mail, whereas the handling test uses a shaker.
BS EN 13205-6 applies to all samplers used for the health-related sampling of particles in workplace air.
Who is BS EN 13205-6- Airborne particle concentrations for?
BS EN 13205-6 on workplace exposure assessment of nano-objects is useful for:
- Manufacturers of nanomaterials
- Testing laboratories
- Human resources executives
- Occupational hygienist
- Health and safety personnel
- Other executives responsible for health and safety of employees
Why should you use BS EN 13205-6- Airborne particle concentrations?
The sampling efficiency of real aerosol samplers will deviate from the target specification, and the aerosol mass collected will therefore differ from that which an ideal sampler would collect. In addition, the behaviour of real samplers is influenced by many factors such as external wind speed.
BS EN 13205-6 provides transportation and handling test methods and procedure for for testing transport losses of aerosol sampler substrates under prescribed conditions aerosol sampler performance and sampler comparison.
BS EN 13205-6 enables manufacturers and users of aerosol samplers to adopt a consistent approach to sampler validation, and provide a framework for the assessment of sampler performance.
BS EN 13205-6 concerns the elements of exposure assessment and provides guidance for various applications. BS EN 13205-6 provides guidance on the use of commonly used devices for the detection of airborne particle concentrations in the workplace air.
What’s changed since the last update?
BS EN 13205-6:2014 supersedes BS EN 13205-6:2001, which is withdrawn. The main changes with respect to the previous edition are listed below:
- This part of EN 13205 is partly based on Annex D of the previous edition, EN 13205:2001.
- The scope has been limited to aerosol samplers, and the current version of the standard is not (directly) applicable to other types of aerosol instruments.
- As this is now a standard in its own right, a clause on the used symbols has been added. Almost all definitions are now given either in EN 1540, Workplace exposure — Terminology or in Part 1 of this standard.
- The method of calculating the uncertainty of a sampler or a measuring procedure has been revised in order to comply with ENV 13005. The concept of “accuracy” is no longer used instead the concept of “expanded uncertainty” is used.
- The standard gives two methods to determine the dependence of the mass loss from collection substrates due to transport and/or handling, respectively. It is described how to use the test data to calculate the uncertainty due to transport/handling and how this is related to the requirements given in Part 1 of this European Standard.