Overview
ISO 15767:2009 - Workplace atmospheres: Controlling and characterizing uncertainty in weighing collected aerosols provides recommendations to control and quantify analytical uncertainty when using gravimetric methods to determine aerosol mass on collection substrates (filters, foams, cassettes). The standard addresses instability of collection media, methods to minimize weighing errors, procedures to estimate weighing uncertainty, and guidance for reporting measured mass including limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantification (LOQ).
Key topics and technical requirements
- Sources of weight instability: moisture sorption, electrostatic effects, volatile compounds, handling damage and buoyancy changes.
- Material selection and pre-treatment: recommendations on non‑sorptive or treated substrates and consideration of trade-offs (e.g., hydrophobicity vs conductivity).
- Blanks and corrections: use of field blanks and lab blanks to correct for substrate instability and to account for double-weighing uncertainty.
- Weighing procedure and equipment: guidance on balance selection, environmental controls, conditioning times, weighing sequence and sample handling to reduce variability.
- Transport and packaging: recommended packaging and tests to maintain sample integrity during transport from field to laboratory.
- Uncertainty quantification: procedure to estimate the uncertainty component (uw) for aerosol mass; definitions of LOD (three times estimated standard deviation) and LOQ (ten times estimated standard deviation) as applied to gravimetric aerosol analysis.
- Annexes: normative and informative annexes cover calculation of uncertainty components, interpretation of LOD/LOQ, method evaluation examples, transportation integrity testing, and balance uncertainty checks.
Practical applications and users
ISO 15767:2009 is practical for professionals involved in workplace air monitoring and aerosol measurement:
- Occupational hygienists performing gravimetric sampling for exposure assessment.
- Analytical and testing laboratories implementing validated weighing procedures and uncertainty estimation.
- Manufacturers of sampling media and cassettes designing low‑sorption, low‑electrostatic substrates.
- Regulatory agencies and accreditation bodies requiring standardized reporting of measured mass with uncertainty, LOD and LOQ.
- Researchers compiling literature or performing laboratory evaluations of aerosol capture methods.
This standard improves confidence in gravimetric aerosol results, supports accurate exposure assessments, and helps laboratories meet quality and reporting expectations for workplace atmospheres and air quality monitoring.
Related standards
- ISO/IEC Guide 98-3 (GUM) for general principles of measurement uncertainty.
- Other ISO standards on workplace atmospheres and air quality monitoring (see ISO technical committees for specific references).
