Dynamic Olfactometry and Oil Refinery Odour Samples: Application of a New Method for Occupational Risk Assessment

Refineries are characterized by relevant odour impacts, and the control and monitoring of this pollutant have become increasingly important. Dynamic olfactometry, a sensorial analysis that involves human examiners, is currently the most common technique to obtain odour quantification. However, due to the potential presence of hazardous pollutants, the conduction of occupational risk assessment is necessary to guarantee examiners’ safety. Nevertheless, the occupational risk for olfactometric examiners, specifically correlated with oil refineries emissions, has not been investigated yet. Therefore, this paper applies a new methodology of risk assessment for workers involved in dynamic olfactometry, focusing on odorous refineries emissions. The chemical characterization of refinery emissions was obtained by TD-GC-MS, analysing odorous samples collected at different refinery odour sources. A database of chemical pollutants emitted from a refinery plant was built up, and the minimum dilution values to be adopted during the analysis of refinery odorous samples was calculated. In particular, this evaluation highlighted that, in this scenario, a non-negligible carcinogenic risk may exist for panellists exposed to refineries’ samples, and the carcinogenic risk is sometimes higher than what is acceptable. Therefore, a minimum dilution value between 1.01 and 5, according to the specific sample, must be set to guarantee the examiners’ safety.