🌿 Vinyl chloride (chloroethene) in workplace air — gas chromatography with sample enrichment; the PKN card gives no limit of quantification; MAC (NDS) 2.6 mg/m³ (1 ppm); PN-Z-04112-01:1978 (withdrawn 15-08-2014)

Environment PN-Z-04112-01

Overview

WHAT THE STANDARD COVERS. Scope from the PKN card, in full: "The method is used for determining the concentration of vinyl chloride in workplace air when inspecting sanitary and hygienic conditions. This method should not be used in the presence of substances with the same retention time as vinyl chloride." (our translation; the card has the misspelling "oznacznia"). From the title: gas chromatography with sample enrichment. The card gives neither the enrichment method, the sorbent, the detector nor the lowest determinable concentration. We did not have the text of the standard (3 pages).

NDS VALUES (list in the annex to the regulation of 26 March 2026, Journal of Laws 2026 item 447). Item 103: "Chloroethene – vinyl chloride [75-01-4]" — NDS 2.6 mg/m³ (1 ppm), no NDSCh and no "skin" notation.

STATUS (cards as of 04.10.2026). The card of PN-Z-04112-01:1978 (Polish version) carries the heading "Withdrawn": published 16-09-1978, withdrawal date 15-08-2014, 3 pages, price group B, Health, Environment and Medicine Sector, KT 159 Chemical and Dust Hazards in the Working Environment, ICS 13.040.30; the card names no replacing standard. The PKN search for "PN-Z-04112" (04.10.2026) shows seven sheets of the series "Tests for vinyl chloride content": withdrawn 00:1978 (general provisions), 01:1978, 02:1979 (workplaces, without sample enrichment), 06:1990 (ambient air) and 10:1989 (rooms intended for permanent human occupancy), and without the label "Withdrawn" — 7:2000 and 8:2001, both on waste gases. The term "chloroetenu" returns two standards, including PN-Z-04505:2019-10 "Air purity protection — Determination of chloroethene at workplaces by gas chromatography coupled with a mass spectrometer" (our translation); its card has no heading "Withdrawn": published 18-10-2019, 8 pages, KT 159, ICS 13.040.30, lowest determinable concentration 0.2 mg/m³ for an air sample of 5 l; the card has no "Replaces" field, so it does not link it to the 1978 standard. This standard is not among the first 50 results for "chlorku winylu" — it is found only under the systematic name.

HOW MANY LABORATORIES AND IN WHAT FORM (copy of the accreditation scope database, data load up to 17.09.2026, read on 04.10.2026). The number 04112-01 (with a hyphen or a slash before the sheet number) appears in 3 records at 3 laboratories; in the current PCA documents (read on 03.10.2026; issues from 29.01.2026 to 28.07.2026 — all issued after the withdrawal of the standard) — in 3 rows at the same laboratories; a search of all PCA documents downloaded from the BIP found no laboratories outside the database copy; no item is suspended, and no document repeats pages. Forms: "PN-Z-04112-01:1978 pkt 8" — AB 719 (next to procedure PA-31 edition 7 of 24.01.2025); "PN-78/Z-04112/01" — AB 875; "PN-78-Z-04112/01" — AB 1642. The "Laboratories" tab: each of the search terms "PN-Z-04112-01", "PN-78/Z-04112/01" and "PN-78-Z-04112/01" shows 1 laboratory, the same in the copy and on the labcoda.pl production server (tab queries on 04.10.2026). The current PN-Z-04505:2019-10 is cited in the PCA documents by one laboratory — AB 882 (issue no. 27 of 23.07.2026), in two rows.

WHAT THE LABORATORIES TEST (database copy and PCA documents). Object: working environment — air; AB 719 — samples collected on sorption tubes with activated carbon, AB 875 — on sorbent tubes, AB 1642 — on a solid sorbent. Quantity: concentration (content) of chloroethene, at AB 719 "chloroethene - vinyl chloride". Ranges: AB 875 — 0.5–64 mg/m³ (0.01–1.3 mg per sample); AB 1642 — 0.5–60 mg/m³ (0.19–23 ppm; 0.005–0.6 mg per sample); AB 719 — mass only, 0.0050–2.00 mg per sample. Technique: gas chromatography with flame ionisation detection (GC-FID) — all 3 laboratories. For comparison, AB 882 according to PN-Z-04505:2019-10: 0.18–36.7 mg/m³ with procedure PB-01 and GC-FID, and 0.24–5.88 mg/m³ with procedure PB-10 and GC-MS.

WHERE A SEEMINGLY CORRECT RESULT IS EASY TO GET. First — status: the standard has been withdrawn since 15-08-2014, and 3 laboratories have it in scopes issued in 2026; for chloroethene at workplaces PN-Z-04505:2019-10 is current, which will not be found by searching the PKN catalogue for "vinyl chloride". Second — limit of quantification: the card of the 1978 standard does not give it, so the laboratories' bottom limits (0.5 mg/m³ at AB 875 and AB 1642) cannot be compared with it; the 2019 standard gives 0.2 mg/m³ for 5 l. Third — interference: the card stipulates that the method is not used when a substance with the same retention time as vinyl chloride is present; how the laboratories check this does not follow from the scopes. Fourth — AB 719 cites only point 8 of the standard, whose content we do not know, and gives only a range of mass per sample, without concentration. Fifth — technique: the 2019 standard provides for mass spectrometry, and AB 882 uses it in one of its two rows; in the other it gives GC-FID.

WHAT WE DO NOT GIVE. We did not have the text of the standard — we do not give the sample enrichment method, the sorbent, the volume or flow rate of air sampling, the way vinyl chloride is released from the sample, the column, the detector, the chromatograph conditions, the limit of quantification or calculations. We do not describe the content of PN-Z-04505:2019-10 beyond the "Scope" field of its card.

Method principle

Vinyl chloride in workplace air is determined by gas chromatography with sample enrichment (title of the standard); the method is not used in the presence of substances with the same retention time (PKN card). The result in mg/m³ is compared with the NDS of 2.6 mg/m³ (1 ppm). The standard is withdrawn (15-08-2014); WE DO NOT GIVE details — we did not have the text of the standard.

Applications

• Workplace air — vinyl chloride (chloroethene) — in the current scopes of 3 laboratories, despite the withdrawal of the standard
• Assessment of occupational exposure against the NDS of 2.6 mg/m³ (1 ppm) (Journal of Laws 2026 item 447, item 103 of the list)

Key parameters

Standard

Standard number

PN-Z-04112-01:1978

Title (PL)

Ochrona czystości powietrza — Badania zawartości chlorku winylu — Oznaczanie chlorku winylu na stanowiskach pracy metodą chromatografii gazowej z wzbogacaniem próbki

Title (EN)

Air purity protection — Tests for vinyl chloride content — Determination of vinyl chloride at workplaces by gas chromatography with sample enrichment

Step-by-step procedure

1. Status

   PN-Z-04112-01:1978 withdrawn on 15-08-2014; for chloroethene at workplaces PN-Z-04505:2019-10 is current (cards as of 04.10.2026).

2. Sampling

   Sampling with sample enrichment (title of the standard); WE DO NOT GIVE details.

3. Analysis

   Gas chromatography (title of the standard); not to be used in the presence of substances with the same retention time as vinyl chloride (PKN card); WE DO NOT GIVE the conditions.

4. Result and assessment

   Concentration in mg/m³; comparison with the NDS of 2.6 mg/m³ (1 ppm) (Journal of Laws 2026 item 447).

Required equipment and apparatus

Health and safety (OHS)

• Vinyl chloride — chemical laboratory safety rules
• TECHNICAL NOTE: standard withdrawn on 15-08-2014; the current PN-Z-04505:2019-10 is in the PKN catalogue under the name "chloroethene", not "vinyl chloride"

Frequently asked questions