🌿 Cadmium and its compounds in workplace air — flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS), PN-Z-04102-3

Environment PN-Z-04102-3

Overview

WHAT THE STANDARD COVERS. The scope from the PKN catalogue card, quoted in full: "This standard specifies a method for the determination of cadmium (CAS No: 7440-43-9) and its compounds in workplace air using flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The method is used in the control of sanitary and hygienic conditions. The lowest concentration of cadmium that can be determined under the air sampling and determination conditions described in this standard is about 0.001 mg/m3 (for an air volume of 720 l)."

STATUS (state of the card on 29 September 2026). The card carries the heading "Withdrawn" and the row "Date of withdrawal: 20-11-2024". There is no "Superseded by" field. Edition: published 07-10-2013, 8 pages, PKN technical committee KT 159 (Chemical and Dust Hazards in the Working Environment), ICS 13.040.30; "Supersedes: PN-Z-04102-03:1985 - Polish version". The PKN search for "PN-Z-04102" (29 September 2026) shows five standards of the series — all labelled "Withdrawn". Cadmium at workplaces is covered by the current PN-Z-04550:2023-07 "Air purity protection — Determination of cadmium and its inorganic compounds at workplaces by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry" (card without a withdrawal note; published 05-07-2023, 10 pages, KT 159): according to its card the lowest determinable concentration is 0.0001 mg/m³ for an air sample of 480 l. The card of PN-Z-04102-3 does not indicate it as the successor — whether it is, WE HAVE NOT ESTABLISHED.

LIMIT VALUE AND THE REGULATION ON THE METHOD. The NDS list — the annex to the regulation of 12 June 2018 as worded by the regulation of 26 March 2026 (Journal of Laws 2026 item 447), item 319 "Cadmium [7440-43-9] and its inorganic compounds – as Cd – inhalable fraction": NDS 0.001 mg/m³, without an NDSCh and without the "skin" notation. The lowest determinable concentration according to the card of this standard is thus equal to the NDS — under the conditions of the standard the method cannot reliably measure concentrations below the limit value. The method is addressed by § 16 of 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): "Tests and measurements shall be carried out in accordance with the methods specified in Polish Standards and, where there are no such standards, with methods recommended and validated by the laboratories referred to in § 15(1) and (2)(1)" (our translation). The regulation does not name this standard; whether a standard withdrawn by PKN falls under § 16 when a current PN-Z-04550:2023-07 exists for cadmium — WE DO NOT DECIDE.

HOW MANY LABORATORIES AND IN WHAT FORM (copy of the accreditation scope database, data up to 17 September 2026, read on 28 September 2026). All records of number 04102 with Part 3: 13 entries at 13 laboratories. Forms: "PN-Z-04102-3:2013-10" — 10 laboratories (at AB 562 with procedure PB_06, at AB 719 only clause 6, next to procedure PA-29 and with the ICP-OES technique); "PN-Z-04102-3:2013" without the month — AB 647 and AB 940; "PN-Z-04102-03:2013-10" with a zero — AB 1144. The "Laboratories" tab searches for records BEGINNING with "PN-Z-04102-3" and will show 12 laboratories — checked with the tab query on the labcoda.pl production server on 29 September 2026: 12; AB 1144 remains outside it. Current scopes on the PCA website (read on 29 September 2026, issues from 24 November 2025 to 17 September 2026): all entries stand in the valid issues, every numerical range from the copy appears in the current document and no entry is suspended — the standard withdrawn in November 2024 still stands in them.

RANGES AGAINST THE NDS. Technique: FAAS — 12 laboratories; AB 719 — ICP-OES and only the mass of cadmium in the sample (0.00020–1.00 mg). Lower limits in mg/m³: down to one tenth of the NDS (0.0001) go AB 340 (0.00006), AB 849 (0.000097), AB 647 and AB 1642 (0.0001); between 0.0001 and the NDS start AB 1144 (0.000108), AB 875, AB 1140 and AB 1257 (0.0002; at AB 1140 for the inhalable fraction 0.00024) and AB 886 (0.00035); AB 562 and AB 940 start exactly at the NDS (0.001), and AB 418 — at 0.0017 mg/m³, above the NDS: concentrations at the level of the limit value lie outside its accreditation range. Upper: from 0.0078 (AB 1642) to 2.5 mg/m³ (AB 940). The NDS refers to the inhalable fraction; some laboratories also give the respirable fraction.

ALONGSIDE THIS STANDARD. For cadmium at workplaces the copy has, apart from this standard (full list): PN-Z-04550:2023-07 — AB 632 (with instruction IB-79); ISO 15202-3:2004 — AB 300; ISO 15202-2:2020-05 together with ISO 30011:2010 — AB 313 (in one of two entries also with the procedure PB-SP-01); the OSHA method ID-125G (September 2002) — AB 869; in-house procedures of AB 213, AB 802, AB 1302 and AB 1364, and the general record "Procedury badawcze" (test procedures) (AB 934). A search for the symbol "Cd" also catches false hits — indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene, conductometric detection (IC-CD) and luminance in cd/m²; they are not on this list.

WHAT WE DO NOT GIVE. We did not have the text of the standard — PKN sells it (8 pages). We do not give the filters and air flow, the digestion, the measurement conditions, the calibration curve, the formula or the precision; we do not know what clause 6, which AB 719 combines with ICP-OES, contains.

Method principle

According to the card of the standard, cadmium and its compounds in workplace air are determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry; the lowest determinable concentration is about 0.001 mg/m³ for an air volume of 720 l. The result as Cd is compared with the NDS of 0.001 mg/m³ for the inhalable fraction (Journal of Laws 2026 item 447, item 319) — the limit of the method equals the limit value. We DO NOT GIVE the sampling, digestion or measurement conditions — we did not have the text of the standard.

Applications

• Measurements of cadmium and its inorganic compounds in workplace air — assessment against the NDS of 0.001 mg/m³ for the inhalable fraction (Journal of Laws 2026 item 447, item 319)
• In accreditation scopes: 13 laboratories, 12 with FAAS; AB 719 combines clause 6 of the standard with ICP-OES

Key parameters

Standard

Standard number

PN-Z-04102-3:2013-10 (wersja polska)

Title (PL)

Ochrona czystości powietrza — Badania zawartości kadmu i jego związków — Część 3: Oznaczanie kadmu i jego związków na stanowiskach pracy metodą płomieniową absorpcyjnej spektrometrii atomowej

Title (EN)

Air purity protection — Tests for cadmium and its compounds content — Part 3: Determination of cadmium and its compounds at workplaces by flame atomic absorption spectrometry

Step-by-step procedure

1. Status of the document

   PKN card: standard withdrawn on 20-11-2024, no successor indicated (state of the card on 29 September 2026); the current PN-Z-04550:2023-07 covers cadmium by graphite furnace AAS.

2. Sampling

   Air — according to the card the determinability is given for 720 l; the inhalable fraction, because the NDS refers to it. Procedure NOT GIVEN.

3. Determination

   Flame atomic absorption spectrometry; lowest determinable concentration about 0.001 mg/m³ (from the card).

4. Result

   Cadmium concentration as Cd in mg/m³.

5. Assessment

   Comparison with the NDS of 0.001 mg/m³. A result "below the limit of quantification" with a limit equal to the NDS does not show that the concentration is below the limit value with any margin.

Required equipment and apparatus

Reagents, media and consumables

Health and safety (OHS)

• Cadmium and its compounds have an NDS of 0.001 mg/m³ in the list — the safety data sheets apply when handling samples and standard solutions
• SUBSTANTIVE NOTE: the limit of quantification from the card (about 0.001 mg/m³) equals the NDS — a compliance assessment needs a method with a lower limit; ask the laboratory for the lower limit of its range

Frequently asked questions