Health risk assessment to chemical is usually carried out to evaluate the adverse health effects using single data point to quantify the risk. This approach to occupational health risk assessment derives to inconsistency in uncertainty and variability. However, the different exposure concentrations levels combine with their related risk adverse health effects are required to estimate health risk of benzene exposure in gasoline storage and distribution facility. Thus, this explorative study investigates health risk for occupational benzene exposure at gasoline storage and distribution facility in industrialized and developing countries; and compares them for the period of 1986 to 2001.The overall risk probability method based on probabilistic technic expresses the risk in terms of probability distribution, rather than the traditional deterministic method using a single-point risk estimation approach. The overall risk probability was used to quantify uncertainty and variability in assessing occupational health risk of benzene exposure at the operations level and site level. The results indicate a significant health risk for workers in gasoline storage and distribution facilities of developing countries, compared to the workers in industrialized countries. The above results were translated by the presence of high volume level of benzene content in petroleum products and the lack of implemented engineering controls measures such as vapor recovery system for countries with the highest health risk.
