This European Standard specifies performance requirements that are specific to aerosol samplers, primarily inhalable, thoracic and respirable aerosol samplers. These performance requirements, which include conformity with the EN 481 sampling conventions, are applicable only to the process of sampling the airborne particles from the air, not to the process of analysing particles collected by the process of sampling. Although analysis of samples collected in the course of testing is usually necessary in order to evaluate the sampler performance, the specified test methods ensure that analytical errors are kept very low during testing and do not contribute significantly to the end result.
This part of EN 13205 specifies how the performance of aerosol measuring procedures is assessed with respect to the general requirements of EN 482, through the combination of errors arising in the sampling, sample transportation/storage and sample preparation/analysis stages.
This part of EN 13205 is applicable to all samplers used for the health-related sampling of particles in workplace air.
This part of EN 13205 is not applicable to the determination of analytical errors and factors related to them (for example the bias, precision and limit of detection of the analytical method). Where the aerosol sampler requires the use of an external (rather than integral) pump, the pump is not subject to the requirements of this part of EN 13205.