🌿 Methanol in workplace air — gas chromatography with flame ionisation detection (GC-FID), PN-Z-04476

Environment PN-Z-04476

Overview

WHAT THE STANDARD COVERS. The scope from the PKN catalogue card, quoted in full: "This standard specifies a method for the determination of methanol vapour (CAS No: 67-56-1) in workplace air using gas chromatography with flame ionisation detection. The method is used in the control of sanitary and hygienic conditions. The lowest concentration of methanol that can be determined under the air sampling and determination conditions described in the standard is 10 mg/m3 (for an air sample of 5 l)." The card does not give the sampling method; in the scopes of some laboratories the object is air samples collected on sorbent tubes, at AB 875 also into an absorbing solution.

STATUS (state of the card on 29 September 2026). The card of PN-Z-04476:2016-10 (Polish version) carries no withdrawal note — the standard is CURRENT. Published 19-10-2016, 8 pages, PKN technical committee KT 159 (Chemical and Dust Hazards in the Working Environment), ICS 13.040.30; the card has no "Supersedes" field. The PKN search for "PN-Z-04476" (29 September 2026) shows only this standard. The earlier standard on methanol at workplaces — PN-Z-04028-01:1981 "Air purity protection — Tests for methyl alcohol content — Determination of methyl alcohol at workplaces by gas chromatography" (absorption of the vapour in distilled water and chromatography of the solution) — is labelled "Withdrawn" according to its card, with the date of withdrawal 17-10-2011.

LIMIT VALUES 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 359 "Methanol" [67-56-1]: NDS (8-hour value) 100 mg/m³, NDSCh (short-term value) 300 mg/m³, "skin" notation. According to the explanatory note of the list, the "skin" notation means that "absorption of the substance through the skin may be as significant as exposure by inhalation" (our translation). The lowest concentration determinable according to the card (10 mg/m³) is exactly one tenth of the NDS. 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). This standard is a current Polish Standard; the regulation does not name it.

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 04476: 14 entries at 12 laboratories. Forms: "PN-Z-04476:2016-10" — 11 laboratories (at AB 882 with procedure PB-01, and in its second entry with PB-10 and mass spectrometry; at AB 1854 with instruction IR-23; at AB 875 together with the withdrawn PN-81/Z-04028.01), "PN-Z-04476:2016" without the month — AB 886. The "Laboratories" tab searches for records BEGINNING with "PN-Z-04476" and shows all 12 laboratories — checked with the tab query on the labcoda.pl production server on 29 September 2026: 12. AB 875 also cites this standard outside the working environment: in the entry "General environment — waste gas samples collected into an absorbing solution / on sorbent tubes", mass of methanol (0.080–6.0) mg in the sample, together with procedure PB 272 and PN-EN 13649:2005 (PCA scope issue no. 22 of 29 January 2026); the card speaks of workplace air. Current scopes on the PCA website (read on 29 September 2026, issues from 5 January 2026 to 17 September 2026): all entries stand in the valid issues and every numerical range from the copy appears in the current document. The entry of AB 1226 (issue no. 26 of 17 September 2026, object "Working environment - air *") is suspended: footnote "*) Accreditation suspended at the request of the body in the part of the scope marked in bold italics from 10.06.2026 to 07.12.2026" (our translation).

TECHNIQUE AND RANGES. Gas chromatography with a flame ionisation detector (GC-FID) — all 12 laboratories; AB 882 has a second entry with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Lower limits in mg/m³: from 0.32 (AB 1642) and 0.60 (AB 886) through 2.78 (AB 1302), 3.4 (AB 849), 5.25 (AB 340), 6.0 (AB 863), 7.05 (AB 882) and 8.0 (AB 875) to 10 mg/m³ (AB 632, AB 1144, AB 1226) — at all of them not higher than one tenth of the NDS. Upper: from 200 mg/m³ (AB 1226) and 400 (AB 849, AB 1642) to 3700 (AB 1144) and 7123 mg/m³ (AB 882, GC-MS). At AB 1226 the range ends below the NDSCh (300 mg/m³) — a higher result lies outside the accreditation range, and the entry itself is suspended until 7 December 2026. AB 1854 gives only the mass of methanol in the sample (90–3500 µg).

ALONGSIDE THIS STANDARD. For methanol at workplaces the copy has, apart from this standard (full list): the withdrawn PN-Z-04028-01:1981 — AB 875 (in an entry together with this standard), AB 481 (record "PN-81/Z-04028.01") and AB 1168; PN-66/Z-04038 "Metoda oznaczania zawartości alkoholu metylowego w powietrzu" (method for determining methyl alcohol in air) — AB 865, with a spectrophotometric method (according to the PKN card withdrawn on 16-01-2006; the PKN search for "PN-Z-04038" shows the 1966 and 1955 editions, both labelled "Wycofana" (withdrawn), read on 29 September 2026); the method from the quarterly "Podstawy i Metody Oceny Środowiska Pracy" 2014, No. 3(81), pp. 89–101 — AB 484 and AB 647 (at AB 647 recorded as "2014, Zeszyt nr 81", in a separate entry next to procedure PB-14); in-house procedures of AB 438, AB 632 (PB-32, in a separate entry next to the entry with this standard), AB 647, AB 719, AB 746, AB 802, AB 863, AB 869, AB 1037, AB 1072 and AB 1257; the general record "Normy, Procedury badawcze" (standards, test procedures) (AB 934). A search for the word "methanol" also catches phenylmethanol (benzyl alcohol) and 2-furylmethanol (furfuryl alcohol) — different compounds, 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 sorbent, the air flow, the desorption, the columns and chromatographic conditions, the calibration curve, the formula or the precision.

Method principle

According to the card of the standard, methanol vapour in workplace air is determined by gas chromatography with flame ionisation detection; the lowest determinable concentration is 10 mg/m³ for an air sample of 5 l. The result is compared with the NDS of 100 mg/m³ and the NDSCh of 300 mg/m³ (Journal of Laws 2026 item 447, item 359). We DO NOT GIVE the sorbent, desorption or chromatographic conditions — we did not have the text of the standard.

Applications

• Measurements of methanol vapour in workplace air — assessment against the NDS of 100 mg/m³ and the NDSCh of 300 mg/m³ (Journal of Laws 2026 item 447, item 359)
• In accreditation scopes: 12 laboratories, all with GC-FID; AB 875 also applies the standard to waste gases

Key parameters

Standard

Standard number

PN-Z-04476:2016-10 (wersja polska)

Title (PL)

Ochrona czystości powietrza — Oznaczanie metanolu na stanowiskach pracy metodą chromatografii gazowej z detekcją płomieniowo-jonizacyjną

Title (EN)

Air purity protection — Determination of methanol at workplaces by gas chromatography with flame ionisation detection

Step-by-step procedure

1. Status of the document

   PKN card: PN-Z-04476:2016-10 current (state of the card on 29 September 2026).

2. Sampling

   The card gives the determinability for 5 l of air; in the scopes — sorbent tubes. Flow and duration NOT GIVEN.

3. Chromatographic analysis

   Gas chromatography with a flame ionisation detector; lowest determinable concentration 10 mg/m³ (from the card).

4. Result

   Methanol concentration in mg/m³; in the scopes of many laboratories also the mass in the sample.

5. Assessment

   Comparison with the NDS of 100 mg/m³ and the NDSCh of 300 mg/m³. "Skin" notation: a measurement in air does not cover absorption through the skin.

Required equipment and apparatus

Reagents, media and consumables

Health and safety (OHS)

• Methanol is flammable and toxic and carries the "skin" notation in the NDS list — work with standard solutions in a fume cupboard; its safety data sheet applies
• SUBSTANTIVE NOTE: before ordering, check that the laboratory entry is not suspended and that its range covers the NDSCh (300 mg/m³) — at AB 1226 neither condition is met

Frequently asked questions