Evaluation of Occupational Exposure Risk for Employees Working in Dynamic Olfactometry: Focus On Non-Carcinogenic Effects Correlated with Exposure to Landfill Emissions

Material Flow Analysis and Occupational Exposure Assessment in Additive Manufacturing End-of-Life Material Management

Additive manufacturing (AM) offers a variety of material manufacturing techniques for a wide range of applications across many industries. Most efforts at process optimization and exposure assessment for AM are centered around the manufacturing process. However, identifying the material allocation and potentially harmful exposures in end-of-life (EoL) management is equally crucial to mitigating environmental releases and occupational health impacts within the AM supply chain. This research tracks the allocation and potential releases of AM EoL materials within the US through a material flow analysis. Of the generated AM EoL materials, 58% are incinerated, 33% are landfilled, and 9% are recycled by weight. The generated data set was then used to examine the theoretical occupational hazards during AM EoL material management practices through generic exposure scenario assessment, highlighting the importance of ventilation and personal protective equipment at all stages of AM material management. This research identifies pollution sources, offering policymakers and stakeholders insights to shape pollution prevention and worker safety strategies within the US AM EoL management pathways.

State-of-art of the legislation on odour emissions with a focus on the Italian studies

This review would like to point out the state-of-art of the European legislation for the odour pollution determination and management. Odour is generated by a mixture of more or less volatile and persistent compounds that surround us in daily life. European directives impose the use of corresponding technical standards for the application of the limits imposed. The different approaches (chemicals and/or olfactometries) and integrated evaluation methods for measuring and characterizing odour, even if in a very different way in the European territories, will be reviewed and commented. Specifically, the authors will describe and comment the main procedures for odour concentration determination (e.g., multigas sensors, electronic sensors for odour monitoring). It is important to note that the definition of odour does not take into account if an odour is "good" or "bad", but only if it exists. The limit value must guarantee a total equivalent level of environmental protection and does not involve a greater polluting load in the environment. Further, a deep revision of the Italian situation in terms of legislation and studies, will complete the paper.

Occupational Risk Assessment in Landfills: Research Outcomes from Italy

Industrial production has brought increased wellbeing in the last years, but the amount of solid waste has undoubtedly increased. Thus, open dumpsites and landfills have been created throughout the world, with serious impacts on the environment and public health. In such a context, occupational health and safety (OHS) issues related to workers that have to deal with landfill characterization or management have not been considered sufficiently. To reduce such a research gap, in 2019 a research project started in Italy on OHS risk assessment in landfills. In fact, in such facilities, workers can be subjected to direct contact with the polluted environment and might not be completely aware of the entity and type of pollution (e.g., in open dumpsites). Starting with the analysis of INAIL data on accidents at work which occurred in Italy during the period 2008–2019, a specific risk analysis was carried out with the goal of defining risk determinants and profiles by means of K-means cluster analysis. Such an analysis allowed us to recognize the use of work equipment and the work environment as the main determinants of the accidents on the one hand, and the “driver of the excavator” as the most risky activity on the other. The achieved results take a step forward towards the characterization of occupational health and safety issues in landfills. Accordingly, the research outcomes represent a basis on which to address further research work in this field.

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.