ISO 30011:2025

Overview

ISO 30011:2025 - Workplace air: Determination of metals and metalloids in airborne particulate matter by ICP‑MS specifies a validated procedure for analysing airborne particulate samples using quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP‑MS), including single‑quadrupole and tandem ICP‑MS/MS systems. It covers method development, instrument performance checks and routine analysis of test solutions prepared from samples collected according to ISO 15202‑1 (with sample preparation per ISO 15202‑2). The standard is focused on workplace exposure assessment to metals and metalloids and is not applicable to elemental mercury (vapour) or other ICP‑MS types such as magnetic‑sector instruments.

Key topics and technical requirements

• Scope of instrumentation: Quadrupole ICP‑MS and ICP‑MS/MS only; magnetic sector ICP‑MS excluded.
• Sampling and sample preparation: Test solutions must come from sampling defined in ISO 15202‑1 and prepared per ISO 15202‑2.
• Method development: Guidance on analytical mass selection, plasma and instrument operating parameters, sample introduction and wash‑out, and minimization of contamination and wall losses.
• Interferences: Spectral interference guidance and advice to use suitable analytical isotopes; matrix‑matching is required to avoid biased results.
• Performance checks and routine operation: Visual inspection, instrument diagnostics, calibration, internal standards and sample dilution procedures.
• Detection capability: Procedures for estimating instrumental detection limit (IDL), limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ).
• Quality assurance: Blank solutions, quality control solutions, internal standards, external quality assessment and measurement uncertainty estimation.
• Operational envelope: Suitable for long‑term exposure limits (and short‑term where applicable) when sampling at typical flow rates ≥ 2 L·min−1 for sampling durations from 0.25 h to 8 h.

Applications and users

ISO 30011:2025 is intended for:

• Occupational hygienists and workplace health & safety practitioners assessing inhalation exposure to metals and metalloids.
• Analytical and environmental laboratories performing trace metal analysis of workplace air.
• Regulatory bodies and employers comparing airborne metal concentrations to occupational exposure limits (e.g., EN 689, ASTM E1370).
  Practical applications include routine workplace monitoring, exposure control verification, compliance testing and occupational risk assessment for industries that use or generate metal particulates.

Related standards

• ISO 15202‑1 (sampling of airborne particulate matter)
• ISO 15202‑2 (preparation of test solutions)
• EN 689, ASTM E1370 (exposure limit guidance)
• Normative lab equipment references in the standard (e.g., ISO 1042, ISO 3585, ISO 8655‑1)

ISO 30011:2025 provides standardized ICP‑MS procedures to deliver reliable, sensitive workplace air measurements of metals and metalloids for informed occupational exposure assessment.