What is BS EN 13205-2 - Airborne particle concentrations about?
BS EN 13205-2 specifies a laboratory performance test for samplers for the inhalable, thoracic and respirable aerosol fractions, based on determining the sampling efficiency curve of a candidate sampler at a minimum of nine particle sizes.
BS EN 13205-2 specifies methods for testing aerosol samplers under prescribed laboratory conditions in order to test whether the performance of a candidate sampler fulfils the requirements of EN 13205-2:2014.
BS EN 13205-2 defines sampling conventions for the particle size fractions to be collected from workplace atmospheres in order to assess their impact on human health. Conventions are defined for the inhalable, thoracic and respirable aerosol fractions. These conventions represent target specifications for aerosol samplers, giving the ideal sampling efficiency as a function of particle aerodynamic diameter.
BS EN 13205-2 is applicable to all samplers used for the health-related sampling of particles in workplace air.
Who is BS EN 13205-2- Airborne particle concentrations for?
BS EN 13205-2 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- 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.
BS EN 13205-2 provides laboratory performance requirements for determining the sampling efficiency curve of a candidate sampler at a minimum of nine particle sizes.
BS EN 13205-2 provides method for calculating the expanded uncertainty for a measuring procedure based on sampling.
BS EN 13205-2 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 13205-2 concerns the elements of exposure assessment and provides guidance for various applications. BS EN 13205-2 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BS EN 13205-2:2014 supersedes BS EN 13205-2:2001, which is withdrawn. The main changes with respect to the previous edition are listed below:
- This part of EN 13205 is based on Annex A 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 symbols used 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 five major sources of uncertainty due to aspects of the sampling performance of an aerosol sampler (calibration of sampler test system, estimation of sampled concentration, bias relative to the sampling convention, individual sampler variability and excursion from nominal flow rate) are described with equations on how to incorporate these uncertainties into the expanded uncertainty of a sampler.
- CEN/TR 13205-3 gives recommendations how these entities may be calculated from measured sampling efficiency data.
- The list of the particle size distributions (per sampling convention) to be used for the evaluation of sampler performance has been restricted at the lower end to reflect that particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than 0,5 μm are not sampled due to aerodynamic forces. In the current version, an additional requirement on the size distributions is that at least 84 % of the aerosol mass consists of particles exceeding 0,5 μm.
