🌿 Mineral oil (oil mist) in workplace air — glass-fibre filter and infrared spectrometry, PN-Z-04108-5

Environment PN-Z-04108-5

Overview

WHAT THE STANDARD COVERS. The scope from the PKN catalogue card, quoted in full: "A method is described consisting in passing a known quantity of air through a glass-fibre filter in order to collect mineral oils on it, desorption with 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane and determination in the resulting solution by infrared absorption spectrometry. The lowest concentration of mineral oils that can be determined by this method is 0.4 mg/m3." The title narrows the subject to the "liquid phase of the aerosol" — oil mist, not oil vapour.

STATUS (state of the card on 28 September 2026). The card has no withdrawal note and no "Superseded by" field — the standard is CURRENT. Edition: published 03-11-2006, 6 pages, KT 159 (Chemical and Dust Hazards in the Working Environment), ICS 13.040.30. According to the "Supersedes" field the standard replaced two sheets: PN-Z-04108-04:1988 and PN-Z-04108-01:1977. Next to it stands part 6 of the same series, PN-Z-04108-6, with determination in the ultraviolet — it has a separate entry in this knowledge base.

THE LIMIT VALUE — AND ITS THREE RESERVATIONS. The Polish NDS list as worded by the regulation of 26 March 2026 (Journal of Laws 2026, item 447), item 448: "Highly refined mineral oils, excluding metalworking fluids – inhalable fraction" — NDS 5 mg/m³, no NDSCh. Three reservations are in the row itself and its footnotes: (1) according to the footnote of the list, "highly refined" oils are "oils with an insignificant content of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that are not classified as carcinogenic in the European Union"; (2) the value does NOT apply to metalworking fluids; (3) it applies to the inhalable fraction, defined according to PN-EN 481. For mineral oils previously used in internal combustion engines the list gives no numerical value — only the "skin" notation. The lowest determinable concentration according to the card — 0.4 mg/m³ — is 8 % of the NDS.

WHERE THE READER CAN GO WRONG. The card speaks of passing air through a glass-fibre filter, while the NDS refers to the inhalable fraction. Whether the standard requires a sampler that collects this fraction — WE HAVE NOT ESTABLISHED. All 16 laboratories name the test as the row of the list does — "highly refined mineral oils excluding metalworking fluids", with the note "inhalable fraction" — but the accreditation scope does not say with which sampler the sample is taken. Second place: the card does not say that the method distinguishes highly refined oil from a metalworking fluid — whether assessment against 5 mg/m³ applies at all is decided by the kind of oil at the workplace, established outside the measurement.

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 04108 with part 5: 19 entries at 16 laboratories. Forms: "PN-Z-04108-5:2006" — 14 laboratories, and "PN-Z-04108-05:2006" with a zero before the part number — 2 (AB 869, AB 1642). The "Laboratories" tab searches for records BEGINNING with "PN-Z-04108-5" and will show 14 laboratories in 17 entries; AB 869 and AB 1642 remain outside it.

TECHNIQUE AND RANGES IN THE ACCREDITATION SCOPES. Ten laboratories record Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR), six — infrared spectrometry without this note. A range in mg/m³ is given by 12 laboratories: lower limits from 0.069 mg/m³ (AB 1207) and 0.15 mg/m³ (AB 886) to 0.4 mg/m³ (AB 821, AB 1302) — ten of them below the card's 0.4 mg/m³; upper limits from 6.9 mg/m³ (AB 1642) to 32 mg/m³ (AB 1302). Under this standard AB 746 also has sampling by personal dosimetry and an exposure index "calculated"; AB 1207 cites the NIOSH 5026:1996 method next to the standard; AB 632 — its own instruction; AB 1854 lists oils used in engines alongside. These numbers include one entry assigned to this standard by mistake when the scope of AB 1144 was loaded into our database: in the PCA document, "Stężenie/zawartość krzemionki krystalicznej (kwarc, krystobalit) – frakcja respirabilna" (concentration/content of crystalline silica (quartz, cristobalite) – respirable fraction) cites a different method ("Podstawy i Metody Oceny Środowiska Pracy" 2012, No 4(74), pp. 117–130; scope issue 26 of 8 January 2026), and PN-Z-04108-5:2006 stands there only for oils. The tab will show this entry until the database record is corrected; the number of laboratories does not change.

WHAT WE DO NOT GIVE. We did not have the text of the standard — PKN supplies it for a fee (6 pages). We do not give the air volume and flow rate, the type of sampler, the absorption band, the calibration, the formula or the precision.

Method principle

According to the card: a known quantity of air is passed through a glass-fibre filter on which mineral oil in the form of a liquid aerosol is collected; the oil is desorbed with 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane and determined in the resulting solution by infrared absorption spectrometry. Lowest determinable concentration according to the card: 0.4 mg/m³. The result is assessed against the NDS of 5 mg/m³ for highly refined mineral oils, excluding metalworking fluids, in the inhalable fraction. We DO NOT GIVE the sampling and measurement parameters — we did not have the text of the standard.

Applications

• Oil mist at workplaces — assessment against NDS 5 mg/m³ for highly refined mineral oils, inhalable fraction (Journal of Laws 2026, item 447, item 448 of the list)
• Not for metalworking fluids — the row of the NDS list excludes them explicitly
• In accreditation scopes most often with the FT-IR technique (10 of 16 laboratories); one laboratory also covers sampling by personal dosimetry under this standard

Key parameters

Standard

Standard number

PN-Z-04108-5:2006 (wersja polska)

Title (PL)

Ochrona czystości powietrza — Badania zawartości olejów — Część 5: Oznaczanie oleju mineralnego (faza ciekła aerozolu) na stanowiskach pracy metodą spektrometrii absorpcyjnej w podczerwieni

Title (EN)

Air purity protection — Tests for oil content — Part 5: Determination of mineral oil (liquid phase of aerosol) at workplaces by infrared absorption spectrometry

Step-by-step procedure

1. Status of the document and object of assessment

   PKN card: standard current (state of the card on 28 September 2026). Before measuring, establish whether the workplace uses a highly refined oil or a metalworking fluid — the NDS of 5 mg/m³ applies only to the former.

2. Sampling

   A known quantity of air is passed through a glass-fibre filter. Volume, flow rate and sampler NOT GIVEN.

3. Desorption

   The oil is desorbed from the filter with 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane.

4. Measurement

   The oil is determined in the solution by infrared absorption spectrometry. Measurement conditions NOT GIVEN.

5. Result and assessment

   The concentration in mg/m³ is compared with NDS 5 mg/m³ (inhalable fraction). A result below 0.4 mg/m³ lies below the method limit given on the card.

Required equipment and apparatus

Reagents, media and consumables

Health and safety (OHS)

• 1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane is toxic — work with it is carried out in a fume cupboard; its safety data sheet applies
• TECHNICAL NOTE: the NDS of 5 mg/m³ does not apply to metalworking fluids or to oils used in engines — the card does not say that the measurement settles which oil is at the workplace; this is established before measuring
• TECHNICAL NOTE: the limit value applies to the inhalable fraction — the report must state with which sampler the sample was taken

Frequently asked questions