Codes of practice | Where reference is made to industry codes of practice, and/or Australian/international standards, it is expected the latest version will be used |
Legislation, standards, codes, procedures and/or enterprise requirements | Legislation, standards, codes, procedures and/or enterprise requirements may include: federal legislation, such as: Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 The Environmental Protection Act 1986 state/territory government legislation and regulations and local government by-laws, policies, and plans dealing with: land use, acquisition, planning and protection environmental protection pollution and contaminated sites Australian and international standards, such as: AS/NZS 4323.3:2001 Stationary source emissions - Determination of odour concentration by dynamic olfactometry AS/NZS 4323.4:2009 Stationary source emissions - Area source sampling - Flux chamber technique SAA HB 9 Occupational personal protection data quality procedures enterprise procedures for sampling, monitoring, checking calibration of dynamic olfactometers equipment manuals and warranties, supplier catalogue and handbooks material safety data sheets (MSDS) occupational health and safety (OHS) national standards and codes of practice |
Odour sources and geometries | Odour sources may include: waste water treatment plants, sludge ponds solid waste recycling plants landfill and landfill gas treatment plants chemical plants composting operations, food and by-product processing, such as rendering and tanning plants agriculture/livestock facilities, such as poultry and pig farming, cattle feedlots and mushroom farms Odour source geometries may include: point, area, volume and fugitive sources |
Information about the site and industrial activities | Information about the site and industrial activities collected by air quality scientists and engineers may include: location of site and nearby buildings, topography and meteorological records complaints, and previous odour assessments at site and nearby locations other industrial activities or potential odour sources in the surrounding area industrial process inputs/outputs, flow diagram and process flowchart unit operations and typical variability, nominal and upset conditions pollution control equipment and techniques for industrial processes air emission control systems, such as scrubbers, bag filters, stacks and bio filters forced or natural ventilation within odorous buildings parameters of emission sources, such as location, geometry, and release parameters for processes operational conditions and period of operation batch or continuous operation for units upstream from the emission source predictable variations in process conditions, production rates and weather interaction |
Complaint records | Complaint records may include: date and time of the complaint, and complainant details odour characteristic and weather conditions actions undertaken to verify the complaint actions undertaken to fix the issue back communication/information to complainant |
Odour sampling/monitoring plans | Odour sampling/monitoring plans may include: monitoring protocol with details of purpose, duration, scope, available resources, detailed procedures and data quality requirements site map showing key community features, plant boundaries, possible/confirmed odour sources and topography monitoring at the source with sampling locations, sampling conditions (process and meteorology), type of sampling, coding and numbers of samples data collection forms (e.g. source location, geometry, operational conditions, sampling strategy and design deviations) |
Odour sampling and laboratory monitoring equipment | Odour sampling and laboratory monitoring equipment may include: sampling bags, such as Teflon, Tedlar and Nalophan portable wind tunnel sampling systems fluxhood/fluxchamber/isolation chamber sampling systems sorbent sampling tubes and stainless steel canisters for collecting volatile organic compounds (VOCs) tubing, pumps, carbon filters and diluter sweep gases for sample collection, such as nitrogen tracer gas for calibration, such as carbon monoxide (CO) reference material, such as 1-butanol dynamic olfactometers for laboratory use |
Pre-use checks of sampling and monitoring equipment | Pre-use checks of sampling and monitoring equipment may include: cleanliness of reusable items leak testing of sample bags, preparation of VOC canisters and sampling equipment pump pressures and flow rate of sweep gases calibration checks olfactometer (range, accuracy, precision and lowest detection limit (LDL)) n-butanol storage cleanliness of the measurement room of the olfactometry laboratory |
Selection and training for laboratory panellists | Selection and training for laboratory panellists may include: use of the reference material (n-butanol) to determine odour threshold and performance of individuals in relation to normative values use of standard dynamic olfactometry procedures effects of alertness, attention, fatigue and health status odour descriptor assignation odour panel calibration results (AS/NZS 4323.3:2001 Stationary source emissions - Determination of odour concentration by dynamic olfactometry) and traceability of the panellist tests |
Odour laboratory condition requirements | The odour testing environment in the laboratory requires an odour-free environment and includes: no stray source odours (e.g. renovation, furniture, equipment and stored chemicals) effective ventilation with filtered air conditioning temperature control no direct sunlight exposure noise-free room |
Odour monitoring data | Odour monitoring data may include: emission source characteristics, such as air velocity, dimensions of a vent or area, temperature, humidity, partial pressure, adjustments made for high temperature and/or high pressure and/or high humidity flows, and ventilation rates sampling data, such as sampling start/end times, type of equipment, sampling location within the source, meteorological and process conditions, ambient temperature, pressure and humidity, diluter use and dynamic dilution rate, sampling flow rates, and any deviations from the requirements of the standard or internal procedure laboratory measurement data, such as identification of the panellist, temperature of the room, date and time of the measurement, chemical analyser and olfactometer operational parameters, odour panel calibration result, set of dilutions over the measurements rounds, average dilution for the panel at the odour threshold, odour concentration result and uncertainty, and any deviation from the requirements of the standard or internal procedure |
Odour control strategies | Odour control strategies may include: physical, such as adsorption, absorption, photo ionisation, masking and neutralisation chemical, such as scrubbing, oxidation and incineration biological, such as biofiltration using bacteria combined, such as bioscrubbers |
Occupational health and safety (OHS) and environmental management requirements | OHS and environmental management requirements: all operations must comply with enterprise OHS and environmental management requirements, which may be imposed through state/territory or federal legislation - these requirements must not be compromised at any time all operations assume the potentially hazardous nature of samples and require standard precautions to be applied where relevant, users should access and apply current industry understanding of infection control issued by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and State and Territory Departments of Health |