Scenting with confidence: Initial Hygiene’s approach to fragrance safety

As a business interested in commercial scenting, you already understand how scent can play
a powerful role in shaping the experiences of your customers, employees and visitors.
Scents can influence mood, memory and perceptions, and when done well, scenting can
enhance an entire brand experience.

But as you look to leverage this potential with confidence, remember that while the power
of scent matters, safety matters more. It’s important to be mindful of certain safety factors
and concerns, such as the increasing awareness of issues such as respiratory sensitisers,
potential allergens and what is often referred to as the ‘fragrance loophole,’ where
companies can avoid fully disclosing the individual ingredients used in their fragrance
formulations. This growing awareness highlights the critical need for responsible fragrance
practices, and this is where we at Initial Hygiene lead.

You can trust our scenting solutions to enhance your environment while upholding the
highest safety standards. For example, our fragrances and fragranced products aren’t classified as respiratory sensitisers, acutely toxic inhalants or substances that can cause
serious health problems* under the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and
Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) or Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) Regulation.

To give you even more confidence in our solutions, we also go beyond these industry
standards with our own Global Fragrance Safety Policy that was developed by our experts to
govern every aspect of fragrance selection and usage. In this blog, we’re taking you behind
the scenes of our policy and showing what it means for every fragrance we deliver to your
business.

Behind the scenes of Initial Hygiene’s Global Fragrance Safety Policy

Our fragrance approval process is guided by a group of experts with in-depth knowledge of
ingredients and safety regulations. Leading this team is Dr Gail Aitken, QA and Regulatory
Manager at Rentokil Initial, who explains why our in-house Global Fragrance Safety policy
was developed:

“Operating as we do across so many countries, we’ve got to make sure that our fragrances
meet a wide range of local and global regulations. To help ensure consistency across our
business, we needed a way of collating and actively defining precisely what we don’t want in
our fragrances due to safety concerns.

Our Global Fragrance Safety Policy became the central point for that, gathering all our
‘musts’ and must-nots’ in one place. Without it, certain ingredients, even things like
potential carcinogens, could technically be allowed in some countries, even if they were
only just under the legal limit. This policy is our way of ensuring every fragrance or 

fragranced product we use across our markets and global customer sites is truly safe for our
customers’ businesses.”

The policy includes strict rules our suppliers must follow, how we adhere to national and
regional chemical regulations and the ingredients and practices we prohibit, such as
forbidding animal testing. Some other key aspects include our International Fragrance
Association compliance and approach to allergens and banned substances.

Compliance with IFRA and global regulations

The International Fragrance Association (IFRA) is the globally recognised authority on fragrance safety with a mission to promote the safe use of ingredients and mixtures. IFRA is a self-regulating body, so fragrance houses voluntarily adhere to its guidelines. Their Code of Practice thoroughly evaluates potential risks and limits ingredients based on safety information and their potential to cause skin allergies, systemic adverse effects and environmental hazards. There are three principal obligations for businesses to follow:

1. Ensure safe use and regulatory compliance: IFRA members must ensure that the fragrance ingredients and mixtures they supply are safe for their intended uses and comply with applicable regulations and laws.
2. Apply the IFRA Standards: IFRA members must apply the IFRA Standards, which ban, restrict or set purity criteria for using certain fragrance ingredients based on scientific evidence.
3. Adhere to good operating practices: IFRA members should follow good operating practices when producing fragrance ingredients and mixtures.

As IFRA members, our Global Fragrance Safety Policy sets strict rules about IFRA compliance — our suppliers must also be members and provide certification that each fragrance adheres to IFRA requirements.

Allergen transparency

Our policy aims to give our customers complete transparency about allergens, so it dictates that we comply with all relevant regulations, including the EU Cosmetics Regulation (1223/2009), clearly labelling any allergens on our products. For a fragrance to be approved, we must have received certificates from our suppliers listing any allergens present and stating the exact percentage concentration in which they’re present.

Banned substances

The policy’s strict ingredient controls make sure that our fragrances are free from substances that may raise ethical or safety concerns. For example, it makes sure our fragrances and fragranced products do not contain:

• Directly added methyl eugenol — while used in some fragrance compositions for sweet, spicy and floral scents, we proactively exclude this ingredient. This decision aligns with the stringent guidelines of regulatory bodies like IFRA, which restrict the use of methyl eugenol due to evidence suggesting it can cause genetic damage and increase cancer risks.
• Certain musks — synthetic musks are sometimes used in fragrance compositions to create long-lasting musky notes. However, we choose to avoid polycyclic and nitro musks entirely due to well-documented concerns regarding their potential to bioaccumulate in water sources and even human tissue.
• Directly added phthalates — phthalates have been historically used as fixatives in fragrances; they reduce the evaporation rate of volatile fragrance ingredients, helping the scent last longer. We exclude phthalates from our formulations due to their potential to act as endocrine disruptors that interfere with hormones.

For more details on what our fragrances don’t contain, click here.

What does our safety policy mean for your business?

Choosing a responsible scenting provider like Initial Hygiene offers significant advantages, allowing you to embrace the advantages of scenting with complete confidence. For example, it can help you:

• Build brand trust and credibility by demonstrating your commitment to health and safety and showing your employees and customers that their wellbeing is a priority.
• Enjoy scenting with peace of mind by reducing potential liabilities and operational worries associated with unregulated or unsafe fragrance practices.
• Meet evolving expectations by showing that your business is aligned with the growing demand for safer business practices.

With Initial Hygiene, you're choosing more than a fragrance provider; you're partnering with industry experts who set the standard for safety, transparency and trust. Our Global Fragrance Safety Policy is built to protect your people, your reputation and your brand.

* None of our fragrances or products containing fragrances are classified as:

• Respiratory sensitisers — substances that, when inhaled, can trigger an allergic reaction in the respiratory system
• Substances that cause acute respiratory toxicity — this refers to lung damage and inflammation caused by inhaling harmful substances, leading to symptoms like shortness of breath and chest tightness
• Carcinogenic, mutagenic and reproductive toxicants (CMRs) — chemicals that are considered particularly dangerous due to their potential to cause cancer, genetic mutations or reproductive harm
• Substances that cause specific target organ toxicity (single or repeated exposure) — this refers to non-lethal, organ-specific effects that occur after a single or repeated exposure to a substance.