Piezoelectric Micro-dosing System for Spiking Quality Samples in Occupational Hygiene Laboratories.

Quality control is crucially important in the arena of chemical analysis. Reference materials are essential for calibration and quality control processes, and for verification of the accuracy and reliability of the analytical results obtained. Owing to the complexity of their manufacture, reference materials for chemical agents occurring at workplaces are expensive and available only on a limited scale and for a small number of substances.

Comparison of Microwave-Assisted Digestion and Consensus Open-Vessel Digestion Procedures for Evaluation of Metalliferous Airborne Particulate Matter.

Metal occupational exposure limits mainly focus on total content of the respective metals of interest. The methods applied for trace metal analysis in occupational health and safety laboratories are usually standardized to pragmatic consensus digestion schemes, ensuring comparability of results. The objective of the present study entailed the evaluation of a recently developed HNO3-only microwave-assisted digestion procedure by comparison with the German consensus hot-block digestion and other national digestion schemes.

Sulfuric acid at workplaces--applicability of the new Indicative Occupational Exposure Limit Value (IOELV) to thoracic particles.

Until 2009, the limit values for airborne sulfuric acid in Europe were based on the inhalable particle fraction (e.g. MAK (Maximum allowed concentration at workplace) value 0.

Evaluation of sampling methods for measuring exposure to volatile inorganic acids in workplace air. Part 1: sampling hydrochloric acid (HCl) and nitric acid (HNO₃) from a test gas atmosphere.

Historically, workplace exposure to the volatile inorganic acids hydrochloric acid (HCl) and nitric acid (HNO(3)) has been determined mostly by collection on silica gel sorbent tubes and analysis of the corresponding anions by ion chromatography (IC). However, HCl and HNO(3) can be present in workplace air in the form of mist as well as vapor, so it is important to sample the inhalable fraction of airborne particles. As sorbent tubes exhibit a low sampling efficiency for inhalable particles, a more suitable method was required.