(55al) Odorization of Propane and Natural Gas: Safeguard or Placebo

NFPA 58 specifies that fuel gas contain 1 pound of odorant per 10,000 gallons of liquified fuel gas, which is calculated to allow workers to detect the smell of odorant in the workplace at 0.25 times the LFL of the gas. However, numerous incidents have occurred over the years involving gas that had been odorized, but the workers did not detect it, leading to significant flash fires and explosions.

This paper will discuss why failure to detect odorant occurs, when odorant could be taken as a safeguard and when it should not be, and how to overcome some of the causes of failure to detect odorant.