🌿 Nickel and its compounds in workplace air — flame atomic absorption spectrometry

Environment PN-Z-04502

Overview

What the standard concerns. The catalogue card describes the scope thus: "This standard gives a method for determining nickel (CAS No 7440-02-0) and its compounds, with the exception of nickel tetracarbonyl, in workplace air, using flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The method is used in the control of sanitary and hygienic conditions. The smallest concentration of nickel and its compounds, expressed as nickel, that can be determined under the conditions of air sampling and of carrying out the determination described in the standard, is 0.014 mg/m³ (for an air sample of 720 l)".

RELATION TO THE LEGISLATION — AND A CORRECTION OF THE EARLIER WORDING OF THIS ENTRY (11 September 2026). Earlier editions of this entry described the standard as "written for a position in the list" and quoted Annex No 1 to the Regulation of the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy of 12 June 2018 (Journal of Laws 2018 item 1286) in its ORIGINAL wording: item 386 "Nickel [7440-02-0] and its compounds, with the exception of nickel tetracarbonyl — expressed as Ni", MAC 0.25 mg/m³. THAT ENTRY NO LONGER EXISTS. Annex No 1 was given a new wording IN ITS ENTIRETY twice: by the Regulation of 30 July 2024 (Journal of Laws 2024 item 1017, in force 10-08-2024) and by the Regulation of 26 March 2026 (Journal of Laws 2026 item 447, in force 02-04-2026).

WHAT STANDS IN THE LIST IN FORCE (Journal of Laws 2026 item 447, status checked 11 September 2026). Nickel is divided into TWO items: — item 407 "Metallic nickel [7440-02-0]" — MAC 0.25 mg/m³, with no short-term value; — item 583 "Nickel compounds — expressed as Ni" — INHALABLE fraction 0.05 mg/m³, RESPIRABLE fraction 0.01 mg/m³. Both items carry footnote 14): "The substance may have a sensitising effect on the skin and the respiratory system". THE EXCLUSION OF NICKEL TETRACARBONYL IS NO LONGER IN THE LIST AT ALL — the formulation we earlier took as proof that the standard was written for the list has vanished from the list and remained in the standard. The values 0.05 and 0.01 were introduced by the 2024 amendment with a transitional period: until 17 January 2025 the value for nickel compounds was 0.1 mg/m³ for the inhalable fraction and no value was applied for the respirable fraction (§ 2(1) of Journal of Laws 2024 item 1017).

WHAT FOLLOWS FROM THIS FOR A LABORATORY — AND THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THIS ENTRY. The standard PN-Z-04502:2019-10 covers "nickel and its compounds" in ONE determination and gives one limit of determination. The list of maximum admissible concentrations separates metallic nickel from nickel compounds and assigns them values differing twenty-five-fold for the respirable fraction (0.25 and 0.01 mg/m³) — for the inhalable fraction the difference is five-fold (0.25 and 0.05 mg/m³), and for the compounds it additionally requires SEPARATION INTO TWO AEROSOL FRACTIONS. A result obtained by this standard therefore cannot be referred directly to the list: it separates neither the forms of nickel nor the fractions. The definitions of both fractions the list takes, moreover, from a standard — footnotes 6) and 9) refer to PN-EN 481 ("the aerosol fraction, defined in accordance with the standard PN-EN 481"), so the laboratory must have that standard too in order to know what it is in fact collecting.

The limit of determination against the limit values — the arithmetic against the LIST IN FORCE. The smallest determinable concentration of this standard is 0.014 mg/m³ for a 720 l sample. Against item 407 (metallic nickel, 0.25 mg/m³) this is about 1/18 of the limit value, that is below one tenth (0.1 × 0.25 = 0.025) — here the method reaches lower than it needs to. Against item 583 the arithmetic is REVERSED: for the inhalable fraction 0.1 × 0.05 = 0.005 mg/m³, whereas the method begins to determine only from 0.014, that is 0.28 of the limit value; for the respirable fraction 0.014 mg/m³ EXCEEDS the limit value of 0.01 mg/m³ itself — it is 1.4 times it. For assessing exposure to nickel COMPOUNDS this method is not sufficient — neither for the inhalable fraction nor, still less, for the respirable one. WHOSE REQUIREMENT IS WHAT HERE — a correction of the earlier wording of this entry. The requirements for the measurement PROCEDURE are set by PN-EN 482, not by PN-EN 689. The catalogue card of PN-EN 482:2021-08 (English version) gives the title "Workplace exposure -- Procedures for the determination of the concentration of chemical agents -- Basic performance requirements" and the scope: "the basic requirements are specified for the performance of procedures for determining the concentrations of chemical agents in workplace air in accordance with the requirements of Directive 98/24/EC". The card of PN-EN 689+AC:2019-06 says something else: "Measurement of exposure by inhalation to chemical agents -- STRATEGY for testing compliance with occupational exposure limit values", and its scope speaks of a strategy for making representative measurements. PN-EN 689 therefore settles HOW MANY measurements to make and how to conclude about compliance, and not what performance the procedure itself is to have (both descriptions retrieved 11 September 2026). POLISH LEGISLATION INVOKES PN-EN 482 EXPRESSLY — and that is stronger than an invocation in the trade literature. The Regulation of the Minister of Health on tests and measurements of agents harmful to health in the working environment (consolidated text, Journal of Laws 2025 item 949) requires in § 5 that CONTINUOUS measurements of the concentration of an agent for which a ceiling maximum admissible concentration (ceiling MAC) has been set be carried out "by means of devices or with regard to procedures meeting the requirements set out in a Polish Standard", and footnote No 4 to that provision reads: "PN-EN 482 or the standard replacing it". THE SCOPE OF THIS INVOCATION MUST BE STATED PRECISELY, SO AS NOT TO SAY MORE THAN THE LEGISLATION SAYS: it concerns continuous measurements for agents with a set ceiling value, and neither nickel nor its compounds have a ceiling value, so that particular provision does not cover THIS method. It is, however, proof that the Polish legislator treats PN-EN 482 as the standard of requirements for the MEASUREMENT PROCEDURE — that is, in the role we earlier attributed by mistake to PN-EN 689 (checked 11 September 2026). WHAT WE STILL DO NOT ASSERT: the numerical requirement "from 0.1 to 2 of the limit value" we have NOT seen in the text of PN-EN 482 — we did not have the standard, and the catalogue card gives no figures. We do know, however, that CIOP-PIB refers the methods from "Principles and Methods of Assessing the Working Environment" precisely to that standard and to that range: in the paper on nickel (2021, No 4(110)) it stands that "The validation of the method was carried out in accordance with the requirements of the European standard PN-EN 482" and "The method meets the requirements contained in the standard PN-EN 482", and the determination range 0.005 ÷ 0.1 mg/m³ (inhalable fraction) and 0.001 ÷ 0.02 mg/m³ (respirable) is described there as corresponding to "the range 1/10 ÷ 2 of the proposed MAC value". That is an invocation in the trade literature, not a quotation from the standard — and it is to be read as such. ADDITIONALLY ON THE AVAILABILITY OF PN-EN 482: the last edition in the POLISH version is PN-EN 482:2009, withdrawn 15-06-2012 and superseded by the English edition of 2012; the edition in force, PN-EN 482:2021-08, exists in English only. The Polish title from the 2009 edition read „Powietrze na stanowiskach pracy -- Wymagania ogólne dotyczące charakterystyki procedur pomiarów czynników chemicznych" [in English: "Workplace air -- General requirements for the performance of procedures for the measurement of chemical agents"] — and it is that POLISH string which circulates in laboratory documentation, although the document bearing it has been withdrawn for fourteen years. SECOND CORRECTION: earlier editions of this entry said that "proposal 2020/0262/COD is under way, in which the values 0.05 and 0.01 are proposed". Those values ARE NO LONGER A PROPOSAL — they are in force, introduced by the 2024 amendment of the list and retained in the 2026 wording. The sentence about "work under way" was true at the moment the CIOP-PIB paper of 2021 was published and ceased to be true, and we copied it as the current position without checking the status of the legislation. That is the same class of error as giving the status of a standard without a date — with the difference that we did check the statuses of standards, and did not check the statuses of legislation at all.

NOTE — there exists a NEWER, DIFFERENT method of determining nickel and it must not be confused with this standard. In the journal "Principles and Methods of Assessing the Working Environment" (2021, No 4(110), pp. 179–189, P. Wasilewski) a method was published developed for the values from proposal 2020/0262/COD — then still proposed, TODAY IN FORCE — in the range 1/10 ÷ 2 of those values, with separation into the inhalable and respirable fractions (determination range 0.001–0.02 mg/m³ for the respirable fraction). That is a different method, different fractions and a different frame of reference from PN-Z-04502:2019-10 — we give it as a source on the state of work, and NOT as the procedure of this standard.

What this entry does not contain. The working steps of the standard itself the entry DOES NOT GIVE, because we did not have the text of the standard — PKN supplies it for a fee and we did not obtain the preview (checked 11 September 2026). We therefore do not give: the kind of filter and the manner of sampling, the volume flow rate and the sampling time, the manner of mineralising the filter, the composition of the standard solutions, the wavelength and the operating conditions of the spectrometer, or the way of deriving the result. Unlike the water and waste methods described in this knowledge base, there is HERE NO superior document describing the laboratory operation: the regulation on maximum admissible concentrations gives only the limit values and not the manner of measuring them. A laboratory implementing the method must buy the standard; the entry says what the standard covers, what limit of determination it has and how it relates to the list of maximum admissible concentrations.

A note on the English title: the PKN catalogue card gives the Polish title only, and we have not confirmed an English one in any document retrieved. The title in the English field is our reconstruction from the Polish.

Method principle

Air from the worker's breathing zone is drawn through a filter retaining the aerosol containing nickel and its compounds, after which the material retained is brought into solution and nickel is determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The result is converted into the concentration of nickel in the air by relating the mass of the element determined to the volume of the sample taken. With a volume of 720 l the method allows concentrations from 0.014 mg/m³ expressed as nickel to be determined. The method does not cover nickel tetracarbonyl — a volatile compound which cannot be captured on an aerosol filter. That exclusion is a feature OF THE STANDARD ITSELF: in the list of maximum admissible concentrations as now worded there is no such proviso any more, because the list separated metallic nickel from nickel compounds and names tetracarbonyl at neither item.

Applications

• Control of sanitary and hygienic conditions at workplaces where nickel and its compounds occur
• Electroplating shops and producers of nickel coatings
• Welding and cutting of alloy steels containing nickel
• Production and processing of nickel alloys, nickel-cadmium batteries and catalysts
• Control measurements for assessing occupational exposure, made under the strategy of PN-EN 689+AC:2019-06 (the strategy for the number and choice of measurements; the requirements for the measurement procedure itself are set by PN-EN 482)

Key parameters

Standard

Standard number

PN-Z-04502:2019-10

Title (PL)

Ochrona czystości powietrza -- Oznaczanie niklu i jego związków na stanowiskach pracy metodą płomieniowej absorpcyjnej spektrometrii atomowej

Title (EN)

Air purity protection — Determination of nickel and its compounds at workplaces by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (tytuł angielski odtworzony z polskiego — karta katalogowa PKN podaje wyłącznie polski)

Step-by-step procedure

1. Taking the air sample (a parameter from the PKN catalogue card)

   Take an air sample from the worker's breathing zone through a filter retaining the aerosol. The card gives the only figure we know: the limit of determination of 0.014 mg/m³ relates to a sample of 720 l. WE GIVE NEITHER THE KIND OF FILTER, NOR THE VOLUME FLOW RATE, NOR THE SAMPLING TIME — they are in the text of the standard, which we did not have.

2. Bringing the material from the filter into solution

   WE GIVE NO PARAMETER of this step — neither the composition of the mineralising mixture, nor the temperature, nor the time, nor the final volume. They are neither on the catalogue card nor in the regulation on maximum admissible concentrations, which gives only the limit values.

3. Determination of nickel by FAAS (the technique from the title of the standard)

   Determine the nickel in the solution obtained by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. WE GIVE NEITHER THE WAVELENGTH, NOR THE KIND OF FLAME, NOR THE OPERATING CONDITIONS OF THE SPECTROMETER — they are in the standard.

4. Conversion to the concentration in air

   Relate the mass of nickel determined to the volume of the air sample taken and express the result in mg/m³ EXPRESSED AS NICKEL — that form of the result is required by both items of the list concerning nickel as now worded (Journal of Laws 2026 item 447): item 407 "Metallic nickel" and item 583 "Nickel compounds — expressed as Ni".

5. Comparison with the limit value (Journal of Laws 2018 item 1286 as worded by Journal of Laws 2026 item 447, Annex No 1 items 407 and 583) — STEP FROM THE LEGISLATION

   First decide WHICH item of the list concerns the workplace under examination: 407 (metallic nickel, 0.25 mg/m³) or 583 (nickel compounds — inhalable 0.05, respirable 0.01 mg/m³). The result obtained by this standard covers nickel and its compounds TOGETHER and does not separate the fractions, so it cannot be referred directly to item 583. No short-term value has been set for either item, so the assessment concerns the concentration weighted over the eight-hour daily working time.

6. Report

   Give the volume of the air sample taken — without it the result cannot be referred to the limit of determination given by the standard for 720 l. Note that the determination covers nickel and its compounds WITH THE EXCEPTION of nickel tetracarbonyl — in accordance with the SCOPE OF THE STANDARD; in the list of maximum admissible concentrations as now worded there is no such exclusion, so the report must state it itself, because it does not follow from the legislation.

Required equipment and apparatus

Reagents, media and consumables

Health and safety (OHS)

• Nickel compounds are classified as carcinogenic and sensitising — work with samples and standards under a fume hood, in gloves, without contact with the skin.
• Contact sensitisation to nickel is one of the commonest in the population — sensitised persons should avoid working directly with these samples.
• Mineralisation with nitric(V) acid releases nitrogen oxides — only under sound extraction.
• Nickel tetracarbonyl, which this method does NOT cover, is an extremely toxic gas — its presence must not be ruled out on the basis of a negative result of this determination.
• Sampling in the worker's breathing zone means being present at the place of exposure — the person sampling applies the same protective measures as the worker.

Frequently asked questions