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Before a scent program is approved, someone in facilities, procurement, or risk management asks whether it is safe. That is the right question, and it deserves a more specific answer than "our fragrances are natural." This guide covers what the standards are, what documentation a vendor should be able to produce, and how a well-run program handles the people in the building who would rather not smell anything.
The standards that apply
IFRA Standards
The International Fragrance Association publishes the IFRA Standards, a code of practice that restricts or prohibits specific fragrance materials and sets maximum concentrations by product category. Air-care products, which include commercial diffusion, have their own categories. A fragrance that is IFRA-conforming has been formulated within those limits. Aroma Impressions fragrances conform to IFRA Standards; ask any vendor for its IFRA conformity certificate per fragrance, not a general statement.
RIFM safety science
IFRA Standards are based on the work of the Research Institute for Fragrance Materials, which publishes safety assessments of individual fragrance ingredients. "Informed by RIFM" means the formulation decisions rest on that published ingredient-level science.
Safety data sheets
Every fragrance concentrate should come with a Safety Data Sheet covering hazard classification, composition ranges, handling, and first-aid information. Your facilities team should have the SDS for every fragrance in the building on file, the same as for any cleaning product.
California Proposition 65
Prop 65 requires warnings for products containing listed chemicals above threshold levels. Ask whether the fragrances carry a Prop 65 warning; if they do not, ask for the basis.
Indoor air quality
Cold-air diffusion introduces fragrance as a dry micro-mist into the air at very low concentration. The relevant indoor-air questions are about ventilation and dose rather than the technology: is the space ventilated to code, and is the program tuned to the lowest intensity that does the job? Both are answered during installation and the trial, and both are why "turn it up" is not a setting we offer. If a building is pursuing a wellness certification, the scent program needs to fit the certification's air-quality criteria; this guide walks through how that conversation goes.
Fragrance sensitivities
Some people experience discomfort from fragrance, and a room full of people is not a single nose. A 48-person office study found that the same bergamot scent lowered self-reported stress for both men and women while producing different physiological responses between them (Liu, Awada, Becerik-Gerber, Lucas & Roll, 2023, Journal of Environmental Psychology). The practical lesson is that a program should be designed for variation, not for an average:
- Start low and tune down first. Most complaints trace to dosing or placement, not to the presence of fragrance.
- Zone. Direct-area delivery makes it possible to scent the lobby and leave the clinic, the nursing station, or the memory-care wing unscented. See HVAC vs. direct-area scenting.
- Choose for the setting. Care environments get lighter, simpler fragrances; see sensitivity-aware scenting for elderly residents and fragrance sensitivity in apartment communities.
- Have a channel. Staff should know who to call to adjust a zone. A program with a service contact behind it can respond the same day; a plug-in cannot.
What we do not claim
Commercial scenting is an experience and atmosphere decision. It is not a clinical intervention, it does not treat or improve any medical condition, and any vendor who tells you otherwise is selling past the evidence. What the peer-reviewed research supports is that pleasant ambient scent changes how a space is evaluated; see what scent marketing is and what the research shows.
The procurement checklist
- IFRA conformity certificate for each fragrance
- Safety data sheet for each fragrance
- Prop 65 status
- Delivery method and the ventilation assumptions behind the intensity setting
- Which zones will be unscented, and how a zone can be adjusted after installation
- Who to call, and how fast they respond
If you would like these documents for a specific fragrance before a trial, ask a scent expert and we will send them.