🌿 Tin and its inorganic compounds in workplace air — FAAS, PN-Z-04488

Environment PN-Z-04488

Overview

WHAT THIS STANDARD DESCRIBES. The scope from the PKN catalogue card, quoted in full: "W niniejszej normie podano metodę oznaczania cyny (nr CAS: 7440-31-5) i jej związków nieorganicznych w powietrzu na stanowiskach pracy, z zastosowaniem płomieniowej absorpcyjnej spektrometrii atomowej. Metodę stosuje się podczas kontroli warunków sanitarnohigienicznych. Najmniejsze stężenie cyny i jej związków nieorganicznych w przeliczeniu na cynę, jakie można oznaczać w warunkach pobierania próbek powietrza i wykonania oznaczania opisanych w normie, wynosi 0,17 mg/m3 (dla próbki powietrza o objętości 720 l)" [This standard specifies a method for determining tin (CAS No.: 7440-31-5) and its inorganic compounds in workplace air using flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The method is used when monitoring sanitary and hygienic conditions. The lowest concentration of tin and its inorganic compounds, expressed as tin, that can be determined under the conditions of air sampling and determination described in the standard is 0.17 mg/m3 (for an air sample with a volume of 720 l)]. The standard has eight pages, was published on 20 October 2017 in a Polish-language version and replaced PN-Z-04229-3:1996. The card has neither a "Withdrawn" header nor a "Withdrawal date" row (checked on 23.09.2026).

THREE NUMBERS THAT MUST BE READ TOGETHER. The limit of quantification of 0.17 mg/m³ means nothing without the other two: the SAMPLE VOLUME at which it was established, and the LIMIT VALUE against which it is supposed to demonstrate something. The card gives the volume directly — 720 litres, i.e. sampling for two hours at a flow rate of 6 l/min or for eight hours at 1.5 l/min. The limit value for tin and its inorganic compounds is **2 mg/m³** (item 134 of the list in the wording given by the regulation of 26 March 2026, Journal of Laws 2026 item 447; the list sets no short-term NDSCh value for tin). The ratio of 0.17 to 2 is one twelfth — the method therefore goes below one tenth of the limit value, i.e. it meets the requirement that PN-EN 482 places on measurement procedures.

BUT ONLY WITH THE FULL SAMPLE VOLUME. A laboratory that samples air for a shorter time — because the work shift is shorter or the workplace operates intermittently — gets a proportionally higher limit of quantification: at 360 litres it will be about 0.34 mg/m³, i.e. only one sixth of the limit value, and the method then does not meet the requirement of PN-EN 482. This is something that cannot be seen in the number on the card itself and that does not follow from the standard, but from the measurement conditions at a specific workplace.

NO TRANSITIONAL PROVISION — CHECKED, NOT ASSUMED. § 2 of the regulation of 26 March 2026 lists thirteen items for which the values from the annex apply later or at a different level (diisocyanates, lead, azodi(formamide), 1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone, N-nitrosodiethylamine, 1,2,3-trichloropropane, 1,4-dioxane, butan-1-ol, diboron trioxide, anthraquinone, isopropylated triphenyl phosphate, chloric(I) acid, asbestos). **Tin is not among them**, so the value of 2 mg/m³ applies directly from the entry into force of the annex. We give this negative result because without it the reader does not know whether the check was made at all.

SCALE OF CITATIONS (reading of 23.09.2026, copy of the database of accreditation scopes). Matching by the BEGINNING of the notation, i.e. the way the "Laboratories" tab searches: 19 entries at 18 laboratories; across all forms of the core "04488" — the same. Three forms of notation, the balance of occurrences agrees: "PN-Z-04488:2017-10" 17 times, "PN-Z-04488" without a date 1 and "PN-Z-04488:2017-10 pkt 7" [pkt = clause] 1. The ratio of entries to laboratories is 1.1 — one laboratory is practically one row of the scope, which is the expected distribution for the determination of a single element.

WHY THE REACH IS SMALL AND WHAT THIS MEANS. Eighteen laboratories is the tail of the distribution in this database — for comparison, the determination of dust at workplaces has two hundred laboratories in the scopes. Tin is not a common agent: it occurs in soldering, tinning, the production of bearing alloys and in metallurgy, not in every industrial plant. The small number of citations therefore says nothing about the quality of the method — it says at how many workplaces this agent is examined at all.

TWO CONDITIONS FOR THE VALIDITY OF THE COMPARISON THAT WERE MISSING FROM THE FIRST VERSION OF THIS ENTRY (23.09.2026). Item 134 of the list reads in full: "Cyna [7440-31-5] i jej związki nieorganiczne, Z WYJĄTKIEM STANNANU – w przeliczeniu na Sn – FRAKCJA WDYCHALNA" [tin and its inorganic compounds, EXCEPT STANNANE — as Sn — INHALABLE FRACTION]. NDS 2 mg/m³, the NDSCh column empty. Both emphasised elements are conditions without which the calculation "limit of quantification against the limit value" does not mean what it appears to mean. FIRST — THE FRACTION. The value of 2 mg/m³ refers to the INHALABLE FRACTION, not to total dust. Footnote 6) of the list defines it directly: "frakcja aerozolu, określona zgodnie z normą PN-EN 481, wnikająca przez nos i usta, która stwarza zagrożenie dla zdrowia po zdeponowaniu w drogach oddechowych" [the aerosol fraction, determined in accordance with PN-EN 481, entering through the nose and mouth, which poses a health hazard after deposition in the respiratory tract]. The calculation of 0.17 mg/m³ against 2 mg/m³ (one twelfth) therefore holds ONLY with sampling in accordance with PN-EN 481 for the inhalable fraction — this is a condition of the same weight as the sample volume, because it equally decides whether the number may be compared with the threshold. SECOND — THE STANNANE EXCEPTION. Flame atomic absorption spectrometry determines TOTAL tin: digestion brings all forms into solution, and the measurement concerns the element. If stannane (SnH4) occurs at the workplace, its tin will enter the result — while the list EXCLUDES it from this item. This is the reverse of the chromium case (PN-Z-04434, a separate entry in this database): with chromium the method does not settle which of the two values the result is to be compared with; with tin the method COUNTS INTO the result something that the limit value does not cover. THE SCALE OF THIS CLASS IN THE WHOLE LIST — because this is not a peculiarity of tin: the term "frakcja wdychalna" [inhalable fraction] occurs in the table 95 times, "frakcja respirabilna" [respirable fraction] 19, "frakcja torakalna" [thoracic fraction] once, "włókna respirabilne" [respirable fibres] three times; for some substances (manganese, aluminium oxide, graphite, calcium oxide) TWO values are given at once — a separate one for the inhalable fraction and a separate one for the respirable fraction. CHECKED FOR FOUR OTHER SUBSTANCES DESCRIBED IN THIS DATABASE, AND THIS CONDITION IS NOT THERE: metallic chromium (item 120), copper (item 394, NDS 0.2), sulphur dioxide (item 203) and potassium hydroxide (item 575) have values without assignment to a fraction. Of the five substances checked, the reservation concerns only tin — and this is the result of a check, not an assumption.

Method principle

The aerosol containing tin and its inorganic compounds is retained on a filter while a known volume of air is drawn through it (under the conditions on the card — 720 l). The sample is digested, and the resulting solution is introduced into the flame of an atomic absorption spectrometer. The absorbance is measured at the tin resonance line; the concentration is read from the calibration curve and converted to the concentration in air, taking into account the volume of the solution and the volume of air drawn. The result is given AS TIN — in the same way as the limit value, which is also expressed as the element, not as the compound.

Applications

• Periodic measurements of occupational exposure required by the regulation of the Minister of Health on tests and measurements of agents harmful to health in the working environment
• Soldering shops and tinning workplaces — checking the effectiveness of local exhaust ventilation
• Smelters and foundries of bearing alloys and tin bronzes
• Personal dosimetry in the worker's breathing zone, with sampling in accordance with PN-Z-04008-7

Key parameters

Standard

Standard number

PN-Z-04488:2017-10 (wersja polska)

Title (PL)

Ochrona czystości powietrza -- Oznaczanie cyny i jej związków nieorganicznych na stanowiskach pracy metodą płomieniowej absorpcyjnej spektrometrii atomowej

Title (EN)

Air purity protection — Determination of tin and its inorganic compounds at workplaces by flame atomic absorption spectrometry

Step-by-step procedure

1. Sampling

   Draw air from the worker's breathing zone through the filter; to obtain the limit of quantification given in the standard, the volume is to be 720 l.

2. Digestion

   Digest the filter in accordance with the test procedure based on the standard.

3. Test solution

   Prepare a solution of known volume.

4. Measurement

   Measure the absorbance by FAAS at the tin resonance line; read the concentration from the calibration curve.

5. Calculation

   Calculate the concentration of tin in air from the mass in the solution, the volume of the solution and the volume of air drawn.

6. Reference to the limit value

   Compare the exposure index with the NDS of 2 mg/m³ as tin. If the sample volume was smaller than 720 l, state the actual limit of quantification in the report — with a smaller volume the method may not reach one tenth of the limit value.

Required equipment and apparatus

Reagents, media and consumables

Health and safety (OHS)

• Acids for digestion — corrosive; work in a fume hood, wearing chemically resistant gloves and safety goggles
• Acetylene–air flame: check the tightness of the gas installation and work in accordance with the spectrometer's instructions
• Metal dusts from soldering and tinning may also contain lead — when sampling at such workplaces, take exposure to other metals into account

Frequently asked questions