A handbook for engineers, technicians, trainers and 

policy-makers - For a climate-friendly cooling

 Proklima International 

Guidelines for the safe use 

of hydrocarbon refrigerants
2
3

A handbook for engineers, technicians, trainers and 

policy-makers - For a climate-friendly cooling

Guidelines for the safe use 

of hydrocarbon refrigerants
4

Imprint

Published by:

Deutsche Gesellschaft für 

Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH

– German Technical Cooperation –

Programme Proklima

Dag-Hammarskjöld-Weg 1-5

65760 Eschborn, Germany

Internet: http://www.gtz.de

Name of sector project:

GTZ Proklima - a programme to save 

the ozone layer

Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation 

and Development (BMZ):

Gisela Wahlen

German Federal Ministry for 

Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Environment and Sustainable Use of Natural 

Resources Division

Bonn, Germany

Email: gisela.wahlen@bmz.bund.de

Lead author: 

Dr Daniel Colbourne 

(GTZ Proklima: d.colbourne@re-phridge.co.uk)

Contributing authors:

Rolf Hühren 

(GTZ Proklima: huehren@aol.com)

Bernhard Schrempf

(TÜV SÜD: bernhard.schrempf@tuev-sued.de)

TÜV SÜD Industrie Service GmbH

Westendstr. 199

80686 München

Deutschland / Germany

Linda Ederberg (Contact person)

(GTZ Proklima: linda.ederberg@proklima.net)

Sabine Meenen 

(TÜV SÜD: sabine.meenen@tuev-sued.de)

Editors:

Dr Volkmar Hasse 

(GTZ Proklima: volkmar.hasse@gtz.de)

Dr Daniel Colbourne

Linda Ederberg

Rolf Hühren 

Peer reviewer:

Stephen Benton (Cool Concerns Ltd) 

Cover picture:

ice cube © Katarzyna Krawiec - Fotolia.com

Design:

Jeanette Geppert, 

www.jeanette-geppert.de

Eschborn, September 2010
5

PROKLIMA is a programme of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische 

Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GTZ), commissioned by the German Federal Ministry 

for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

PROKLIMA has been providing technical and financial support for developing 

countries since 1996 to implement the provisions of the Montreal Protocol on 

Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
6

Contents

PREFACE 18

PART 1: SAFETY INFRASTRUCTURE 22

1.1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION 22

1.1.1 Background 22

1.1.2 Using the handbook 25

1.1.3 Approach of the handbook 25

1.1.4 Considerations for policy-makers 27

1.1.5 Key stages during equipment lifetime 29

1.2 BASIC SAFETY WITH FLAMMABLE REFRIGERANTS 30

1.2.1 Introduction 30

1.2.2 Safety classification of HC refrigerants 31

1.2.3 Basic approach for working with flammable refrigerants 32

1.3 DEVELOPMENT OF SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS 34

1.3.1 Introduction 34

1.3.2 Development of a policy 35

1.3.3 Organising personnel 35

1.3.4 Planning and setting guidelines 36

1.3.5 Measuring performance 38

1.3.6 Auditing and reviewing 38

1.4 IDENTIFICATION OF COOPERATION PARTNERS 39

1.4.1 Introduction 39

1.4.2 Industry associations 39

1.4.3 Technical institutes and associations 40

1.4.4 Development agencies 40

1.4.5 National authorities 41

1.4.6 Standardisation bodies 42

1.4.7 Accreditation bodies 44

1.5 FRAMEWORK OF REGULATIONS AND STANDARDS 44

1.5.1 Introduction 44

1.5.2 National health and safety rules 45

1.5.3 Regulations 45

1.5.4 Standards 45

1.5.5 Other publications 51

PART 2: QUALITY SYSTEMS FOR SAFETY 52

2.1 INTRODUCTION 52

2.1.1 General overview 52

2.1.2 Quality control systems 55
7

2.2 FEED-IN ELEMENTS (INPUTS) 57

2.3 TESTING 58

2.4 INSPECTIONS 60

2.4.1 Introduction 60

2.4.2 Use of third-parties for inspections 61

2.4.3 Function of an inspection body 61

2.4.4 Practical aspects of inspections 62

2.5 MONITORING 63

2.6 FEEDBACK AND PREVENTATIVE/CORRECTIVE ACTION 64

2.7 ACCREDITATION AND CERTIFICATION 65

PART 3: TRAINING 67

3.1 INTRODUCTION TO TRAINING 67

3.1.1 Significance of training 67

3.1.2 Recognising the importance of training 67

3.1.3 Approach for training and certification 69

3.1.4 Training for field service technicians 70

3.2 TRAINING FACILITIES 71

3.2.1 Introduction 71

3.2.2 Ideal set-up of training workshop site 71

3.2.3 Tools and equipment 72

3.2.4 Implications of location situation 74

3.3 MANAGEMENT SYSTEM 75

3.3.1 Introduction 75

3.3.2 Input requirements 77

3.3.3 Assessment 78

3.3.4 Guidelines for certification of persons 78

3.3.5 Technician and company registration (licensing) 81

3.3.6 Inspection of operations and monitoring 82

3.4 CONTENT FOR STANDARD REFRIGERATION TRAINING 82

3.4.1 Introduction 82

3.4.2 Categorisation of ARC topics and ARC competence description 83

3.4.3 Additional syllabus for HC refrigerants 83

3.4.4 Example of assessment criteria 83

3.5 TRAINING FOR DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT 83

3.5.1 Introduction 83

3.5.2 Technical core training 84

3.5.3 Product core training 84

3.5.4 Fundamental training 84

3.5.5 Peripheral training 84
8

3.6 TRAINING FOR PRODUCTION 84

3.6.1 Procedures for working within production area 84

3.6.2 Awareness-raising of manufacturing personnel 85

3.6.3 Personnel to be trained 85

3.6.4 Identification of areas 85

3.6.5 Changes to work situation 85

3.6.6 Procedures review 86

3.6.7 Staff training for distribution 86

PART 4: PRODUCTION AND MANUFACTURING FACILITIES 88

4.1 INTRODUCTION 88

4.2 REFRIGERANT SUPPLY 89

4.2.1 Refrigerant storage 89

4.2.2 Refrigerant pumping and control supply 91 

4.2.3 Refrigerant supply distribution pipework 91

4.3 APPLIANCE PRODUCTION 91

4.3.1 Refrigerant charging areas 91

4.3.2 Appliance repair and refrigerant recovery area 92

4.3.3 Other work areas 92

4.4 FACTORY SAFETY SET-UP 93

4.4.1 Introduction 93

4.4.2 Gas detection 93

4.4.3 Ventilation system 93

4.4.4 Warning alarms 94

4.4.5 Control system 94

4.4.6 Marking and signs 94

4.4.7 Instructions and procedures 95

4.5 CONSIDERATIONS FOR WORKSHOP/REPAIR AREAS 95

4.5.1 Introduction 95

4.5.2 Area layout 95

4.5.3 Workshop safety system 96

4.5.4 Working practices 97

4.5.5 Equipment for workshop area 97

4.6 CARRIAGE OF SYSTEMS 98

4.6.1 Introduction 98

4.6.2 Transport by road 98

4.6.3 Transport by sea 98

4.6.4 Transport by air 99

4.7 STORAGE OF SYSTEMS 99

4.7.1 Introduction 99

4.7.2 Risk assessment 100

4.7.3 Major accident prevention policy 101

4.7.4 Set-up of warehouses 101

4.7.5 General procedures 102
9

4.7.6 Shipping-in/-out procedures 103

4.7.7 Record keeping procedures 103

4.7.8 Damaged equipment procedures 103

PART 5: EQUIPMENT DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT 105

5.1 INTRODUCTION TO SAFE DESIGN FOR HC REFRIGERANTS 105

5.1.1 Integrated safety 105

5.1.2 Other safety considerations 108

5.2 AVOIDANCE OF LEAKAGE 109

5.2.1 Introduction 109

5.2.2 General system design 110

5.2.3 Considerations for piping 111

5.2.4 Considerations for major system components 112

5.2.5 Considerations for valves 112

5.2.6 Leak detection 112

5.3 REFRIGERANT CHARGE SIZE LIMITS 114

5.3.1 Introduction 114

5.3.2 Occupancy categories 115

5.3.3 Category A occupancies (general occupancy) 116

5.3.4 Category B occupancies (supervised occupancy) 117

5.3.5 Category C occupancies (authorised occupancy) 117

5.3.6 Calculation of allowable charge sizes 118

5.3.7 Equipment airflow 119

5.4 CHARGE SIZE REDUCTION 123

5.4.1 Introduction 123

5.4.2 General approach 123

5.4.3 Consideration of individual components 124

5.5 SOURCES OF IGNITION AND METHODS OF AVOIDING IGNITION 128

5.5.1 Introduction 128

5.5.2 Hot surfaces 128

5.5.3 Electrical sources of ignition 129

5.5.4 Fan assemblies 129

5.5.5 Further considerations 131

5.5.6 Leak simulation tests for potential sources of ignition 132

5.6 DESIGN OF SYSTEM INSTALLATION 138

5.6.1 Introduction 138

5.6.2 General requirements for installation of systems inside 138

5.6.3 General requirements for installations outside 138

5.6.4 Machinery rooms 140

5.6.5 Ventilated enclosures 143

5.6.6 Installation of pipework 146

5.6.7 Indirect or secondary systems 147

5.6.8 Use of pressure safety devices 148

5.6.9 Fixed refrigerant detection 152

5.6.10 Integration of system safety concepts 153
10

5.7 MARKING AND INSTRUCTIONS 157

5.7.1 Introduction 157

5.7.2 Marking and signage 157

5.7.3 Manuals and other instructions 160

5.8 RISK ANALYSIS 163

5.8.1 Introduction 163

5.8.2 General risk assessment techniques 163

5.8.3 Specific methodology 169

5.8.4 Flammability characteristics 177

5.8.5 Refrigerant leakage 177

5.8.6 Dispersion of refrigerant releases 180

5.8.7 Consequences of ignition 185

PART 6: WORKING ON SYSTEMS AND EQUIPMENT 189

6.1 TECHNICIAN ACTIVITIES AND REFRIGERANT HANDLING 189

6.1.1 Introduction 189

6.1.2 Risk assessment 190

6.1.3 General precautions for working 192

6.1.4 Accessing a refrigerant circuit 195

6.1.5 Refrigerant recovery 195

6.1.6 Refrigerant venting 197

6.1.7 Repair of leaks 198

6.1.8 Leak checking (for tightness testing) 299

6.1.9 Strength (pressure) testing 200

6.1.10 System evacuation 200

6.1.11 Charging 200

6.1.12 Repairs to electrical components 201

6.1.13 Routine system checks 202

6.1.14 Gas detection 203

6.1.15 Cylinder handling 203

6.2 INSTALLATION OF EQUIPMENT 205

6.2.1 Introduction 205

6.2.2 Preparation 205

6.2.3 Conformity to safety guidelines 205

6.2.4 Site work 208

6.2.5 Testing 208

6.2.6 Marking and documentation 208

6.3 COMMISIONING OF SYSTEMS AND INSTALLATIONS 209

6.3.1 Introduction 209

6.3.2 Commissioning requirements 209

6.3.3 Preliminary design aspects 210

6.3.4 Specification 211

6.3.5 Pre-commissioning 212

6.3.6 Refrigerant handling 214

6.3.7 Setting to work and adjustments 214

6.3.8 Start-up, shut-down and running-in 215

6.3.9 Handover and documentation 215
11

6.4 ON-SITE AND WORKSHOP CONVERSIONS 216

6.4.1 Basic principles and warnings 216

6.4.2 Considerations affecting conversions 218

6.4.3 Conducting conversions 220

6.5 DISMANTLING 225

PART 7: CASE STUDIES 226

7.1 Introduction 226

7.2 Benson Air Conditioning (Australia) 226

7.3 Carter Retail Equipment (UK) 228

7.4 De’Longhi (Italy) 229

7.5 JCI (Denmark) 230

7.6 Hindustan Unilever / Kwality Walls Ice Cream (India) 231

7.7 Lidl (Germany) 233

7.8 Palfridge (Swaziland) 234

7.9 Victorian Transport Refrigeration – Refrigerated 

transport and vehicle AC (Australia) 236

7.10 Waitrose / John Lewis Partnership (UK) 238

BIBLIOGRAPHY, STANDARDS, FURTHER READING 240

National standards 240

European standards 240

International standards 241

Industry guidance 241

Further reading 242

ABBREVIATIONS 245

GLOSSARY 246
12

APPENDICES 253

APPENDIX 1: NON-SAFETY RELATED TECHNICAL ASPECTS 253

APPENDIX 2: EXAMPLE CONVERSION PROCEDURES 259

APPENDIX 3: LIST OF COOPERATION PARTNERS 263

APPENDIX 4: FLAMMABLE CHARACTERISTICS OF HCs 269

APPENDIX 5: CALCULATION OF CONCENTRATIONS FROM A RELEASE 274

APPENDIX 6: EQUIPMENT FOR TECHNICIAN TRAINING 278

APPENDIX 7: CONTENT FOR REFRIGERATION TRAINING STANDARD 291

APPENDIX 8: EXAMPLE ASSESSMENT CRITERIA FOR TECHNICIANS 310

APPENDIX 9: RECORD SHEET FOR REFRIGERANT USE 312

APPENDIX 10: VAPOUR PRESSURE AND LIQUID DENSITY TABLES 313
13

List of tables

Table 1: Overview of the various parts of the handbook and the target groups 4

Table 2: Refrigerant safety classification scheme 32

Table 3: Summary of the relevant safety standards 49

Table 4: Relevant areas for HC training facilities 72

Table 5: Overall risk levels associated with the application of HCs to system categories 80

Table 6: Safety features for bulk tanks, cylinder enclosures and pump rooms 90

Table 7: Typical range of average empirical refrigerant leakage for different types 

of systems 109

Table 8: Flammable limits and practical Limits of several HC refrigerants 115

Table 9: Types of occupancies and examples 116

Table 10: Summary of maximum and allowable refrigerant charges sizes 

according to EN 378, and EN / IEC 60335-2-24, -89 and -40 121

Table 11: Overview of the various test requirements for different types of equipment 136

Table 12: Identification of PE Category for HC systems using small sized vessels and 

piping 149

Table 13: Example sensing methods and preventative actions and indication of 

effectiveness 154

Table 14: Overview of the general information required for manuals 161

Table 15: Example of some FMEA questions for fixed flammable gas detection sensor 164

Table 16: Example application of HazOp to HC refrigerant system charging during 

servicing 169

Table 17: Suggested maximum acceptable risk criteria 176

Table 18: Examples of causes of leaks, development rate and prevention 178

Table 19: Application areas for natural refrigerants – Refrigeration 219

Table 20: Conversion factors to estimate equivalent HC charge size 220

Table 21: HC refrigerants and basic properties 253

Table 22: Compatibility and solubility of different oils with HCs 254

Table 23: Comparable HC refrigerants for replacing ODS and HFC refrigerants 255

Table 24: Flammable properties of several HC refrigerants 270
14

List of figures

Figure 1: General overview of the approach covered in the handbook 26

Figure 2: Indication of the relevance of each part of the handbook 27

Figure 3: Overview of the stages within the equipment lifetime, the key 

personnel and the subject groups that may be needed to execute the work 29

Figure 4: The fire triangle 33

Figure 5: Overview of key elements of safety management system 34

Figure 6: Overview of links between international, European and national standardisation 

organisations (national bodies are shown as examples) 43

Figure 7: Hierarchy of regulations, standards and guidelines 44

Figure 8: Typical approach for safety standard 46

Figure 9: Aspects of a refrigeration system implicated by safety standards 47

Figure 10: Key international and European standards that address HC refrigerants, 

associated committees and inter-linkages 48

Figure 11: Overview of a general quality system to address safety matters 54

Figure 12: Common types and locations of testing 59

Figure 13: Exemplary diagrammatic representation of the typical structure of the 

education (including VET) system in Germany 74

Figure 14: Overview of a general quality system applied to technician training, 

certification and registration 76

Figure 15: Suggested timescale for the staged introduction of HC refrigerants 

according to risk level 79

Figure 16: Overview of the categories of training to be considered 83

Figure 17: Typical manufacturing process, identifying positions where refrigerant 

releases should be considered 89

Figure 18: Examples of appropriate signage 94

Figure 19: Suggested layout for workshop/repair area 96

Figure 20: General approach to be followed for warehousing and storage of systems 99

Figure 21: Flow chart indicating the design steps to integrate flammable substances 

safely 105

Figure 22: An indication of the tendency of different individual components to leak 111

Figure 23: Determination of maximum charge amount and room size for HC refrigerants 122

Figure 24: Illustration of how specific refrigerant charge may vary according to system 

cooling capacity and application temperature range 124

Figure 25: Variation in specific refrigerant charge for approximately 250 split air 

conditioners using R22, from nine different manufacturers 124

Figure 26: Example distribution for refrigerant charge within a split air-conditioner 125

Figure 27: Illustration of effect of advantageous reduction of tube diameter for R290 

condenser 126

Figure 28: Indication of the “safe” distance from a refrigeration system 140

Figure 29: Suggestion for mechanical ventilation inlets and outlet for a machinery room 143

Figure 30: Schematic diagram of options for ventilated enclosures 144
15

Figure 31: Flow chart for determining the appropriate means of protection 

against excessive pressure 151

Figure 32: Effect of reduction in refrigerant charge on selected system parameters, 

for a system with a thermostatic expansion device (left) and a system 

with a capillary tube (right) based on 35°C outside temperature 155

Figure 33: Change in room floor concentration with initiation and termination of 

airflow (note that this illustration does not indicate that one option is 

any more effective than another; the differences are only for purposes 

of clarity of the diagram) 155

Figure 34: Use of a normally-closed solenoid valve in a remote or split type system 156

Figure 35: Some prohibition signs that may be used during refrigerant handling and 

other activities 158

Figure 36: Some warning signs that may be applied to equipment and working areas 158

Figure 37: Some mandatory signs for use on equipment 159

Figure 38: Some mandatory signs for use in working areas 159

Figure 39: “flammable gas” hazard label 159

Figure 40: Questions to be asked for each component within a system as part of an 

FMEA 164

Figure 41: Example of determination of risk on the basis of the frequency of an 

undesirable event occurring and the cost-severity of the damage cause by 

the consequence of the event; “A” is unacceptable, “G” is acceptable 165

Figure 42: Example of event tree for a flammable gas release from a pipe 166

Figure 43: Example of a fault tree leading to a top event of ignition of flammable gas 

by an unprotected SOI 167

Figure 44: Typical work flow diagram for carrying out a HazOp analysis 168

Figure 45: Basic sequence of events causing a hazard from flammable refrigerants 169

Figure 46: Map of modes, locations and target groups to consider in risk analysis 170

Figure 47: Venn diagram indicating occurrences necessary for ignition 172

Figure 48: Proportions of flammable volume-time being present within the lower 

level for a variety of different situations 173

Figure 49: Example of a frequency-consequence curve for ignition of flammable 

refrigerant from different sized leaks into the indoor unit, outdoor unit 

and occupied space for an air conditioner 176

Figure 50: Example of a leak size distribution for a set of systems, where large leaks 

are very infrequent and small leaks are much more frequent 179

Figure 51: Example of refrigerant leak holes due to corrosion 179

Figure 52: Option for measuring release rate from a leaking component, joint or other 

element 180

Figure 53: Illustration of the flammable region following a refrigerant leak from an 

evaporator into a room 181

Figure 54: Illustration of the flammable region following a refrigerant leak within 

equipment housing and gradual escape of mixture 181

Figure 55: The maximum floor concentration following the release of a given quantity of 

R290 into a 25 m2

 room over different release times 182
16

Figure 56: The maximum floor concentration following the release of a 300 g into a 

25 m2

 room for a range of release heights for different release times 182

Figure 57: Maximum floor concentration for a 0.5 kg release into a room within 7 

minutes under still conditions 183

Figure 58: Maximum floor concentration for a release mass corresponding to 8 g/m3

into a room within 7 minutes, with and without airflow 183

Figure 59: Effect of mean room air speed, of a release into a 25 m2

 room; at a 

sufficiently high air speed, the maximum concentration is the same as the 

mean room concentration 184

Figure 60: Effect of air outlet duct area on floor concentration of a 0.5 kg release in 

7 min into a 25 m2

 room; the smaller duct area produces a higher velocity 

the creates better mixing 184

Figure 61: Effect of release height in relation to air discharge height, when the duct is 

at the same height as the release, and when the duct height is fixed 185

Figure 62: Variation in floor concentration for different HC refrigerants, over a range of 

air flow rates 185

Figure 63: Combustion process leading to consequences 185

Figure 64: Examples of room overpressure development under different situations 187

Figure 65: Examples of compartment overpressure development with different designs 187

Figure 66: Identification of activities that may involve and emission of refrigerant 192

Figure 67: A diagram illustrating the positioning and design of the vent hose 198

Figure 68: General procedure for installation of systems and equipment 205

Figure 69: Summary of HC charge size limits for single refrigerant circuit within 

an occupied space, dependent upon type of system 206

Figure 70: Overview and sequence of the key stages involved in commissioning 210

Figure 71: Decision chart for determining whether it is possible to convert a system to 

use HC refrigerant (in order to conform to the relevant standards) 217

Figure 72: Flow chart indicating the sequence of activities for converting a system to 

use HC refrigerant 224

Figure 73: Variation of auto-ignition temperature with gas concentration 271

Figure 74: Variation of minimum ignition energy with gas concentration 272

Figure 75: Variation of heat of combustion with gas concentration 272

Figure 76: Variation of adiabatic flame temperature with gas concentration 273

Figure 77: Variation of laminar flame speed with gas concentration 273

Figure 78: Example of differing floor concentrations and averaged values 274

Figure 79: Schematic diagram of parameters involved in estimation of concentration 275

Figure 80: Gradient of floor concentration development with time 276
17

Acknowledgements

GTZ Proklima would like to thank the following for their valuable contributions to this publication:

Alberto Aloisi, De’Longhi

Alex Cohr Pachai, JCI

Andreas Schwarz, Lidl

Atul Padalkar, Singhad College

Bernhard Siegele, GTZ Proklima

Berty Jacob, Unilever

Brent Hoare, Green Cooling Association

Igor Croiset, GTZ Proklima

Joachim Schadt, Lidl

Les King, Waitrose / John Lewis Partnership

Peter Matthews, HSM Distributors Australia

Piero Poggiali/Ronni Capodaglio, Galileo TP Srl

Rene van Gerwen, Unilever

Rohan Cox, VTR

Roy Singh, Palfridge

Sukumar Devotta

In particular, we would like to thank Stephen Benton, Cool Concerns Ltd, for the peer review.

Further, we would also like to express our thanks to those who have provided assistance in writing, 

research, editing and layouting:

Rebecca Kirch, GTZ Proklima

Ewa Macinski, GTZ Proklima
PREFACE

By Dr Volkmar Hasse, GTZ Proklima, Eschborn, May 2010

In 2007 the parties to the Montreal Protocol decided an accelerated phase-out of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), a group of ozone depleting substances (ODS) with high global warming potential 

(GWP). An important part of this decision was the agreement that assistance for developing countries 

from the Montreal Protocol’s Multilateral Fund should prioritise alternative technologies to HCFCs 

which minimise climate and other environmental effects. To achieve this, the GWP of the alternative 

refrigerants must be as low as possible and the energy efficiency of the equipment must be as good as 

possible. 

The most widely used HCFC is the refrigerant HCFC-22 in air conditioning. All conventional alternatives easily available to replace HCFC-22 are based on hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) gases with similarly 

high GWP. 

All low GWP alternatives to HCFC-22 are flammable to various extents and therefore require appropriate precautions. Of these the least problematic choices are natural hydrocarbon (HC) refrigerants. They 

have a negligible GWP and should they ever catch fire will not produce any noxious fumes. In fact, the 

HC refrigerant HC-290 is highly refined propane, the same gas used worldwide for cooking.

The introduction of HC as replacement for HCFC-22 will be a significant element in avoiding emissions 

of extremely potent HFC greenhouse gases which are increasing steadily. This will be necessary to help 

avoid the climate catastrophes foreseen during this century, which will particularly severely affect 

developing countries. It is therefore the responsibility of our generation to make this transition possible 

and easy. The overall environmental benefits of this technology are paramount and can help to save 

literally millions of lives. 

While avoiding climate change is the most important challenge of our days, it is still important to pay 

attention to the detail of how the conversions to environmentally friendly HC refrigerants are taking 

place to avoid unnecessary accidents due to ignorance and neglect.

There is currently a massive growth in the use of both HCFCs and HFCs in developing countries. This 

is alarming because it clearly cancels out worldwide efforts to curb other even less potent greenhouse 

gases. It is also economically wasteful as it can be foreseen that current international efforts aiming at a 

“phase-down” of HFCs will necessitate further expensive industrial conversions in the near future. Many 

developing countries have realised this situation and demand now a conversion to sustainable technologies not requiring yet another technology change. Developing countries repeatedly expressed their preferences for the introduction of technologies based on natural refrigerants with none or negligible GWP 

and superior energy efficiency. 

As a reaction to this, the Executive Committee of the Multilateral Fund recently decided to provide 

additional 25% of funding to HCFC Phase-out Management Plans (HPMP) if low GWP alternatives 

are chosen.

With the phase-out of HCFC-22 it will be advantageous to introduce natural refrigerants. Once developing countries start to adopt the use of HC as refrigerants, authorities and enterprises as well as individual technicians and engineers will find some barriers to their implementation. Many of these are 

related to a lack of information and misperceptions about the flammability issue leading to fear and 

reluctance. 

18
19

Despite this, we observe an increasingly rapid uptake of HCs in developing countries, unfortunately 

often with little know-how resulting in rather dangerous equipment operating conditions. While we 

cannot assume responsibility for any individual conversion, we consider it essential to contribute the 

best available safety information in an easily understandable way, to ensure a safe and sustainable shift 

to natural refrigerants. While everyone is already using HC gas in everyday life, e.g. in the kitchen as 

cooking gas and in refrigerators, in vehicles as an environmentally friendly fuel replacing gasoline, as 

propellant gas in hygiene products such as deodorants and hairsprays, we do acknowledge that HC 

refrigerants must be used safely in all applications including air conditioners. 

With this handbook we want to go the extra mile to safety by providing sound and reliable information 

on precautions that can be taken to prevent any untoward accidents. It is targeted at an audience concerned with the introduction of HC refrigerants at all levels from national policies to equipment design 

and manufacturing, installation, maintenance, servicing and end-of-life disposal. Advice is given to: 

• Help policy-makers to encourage a nation-wide introduction of HC technology emphasising safety and 

state-of-the-art technologies

• Enable manufacturers and installers of HCFC and HFC equipment to reliably assess the suitability of 

HC options and subsequently implement them

• Enable a transition from HCFC to natural refrigerants directly and bypassing the introduction of high 

GWP transitional HFCs

To provide an even better service to our partner countries, GTZ Proklima formed an alliance with TÜV 

SÜD, a well known authority on safety and quality systems. 

GTZ Proklima has first-hand experience with the introduction of HC refrigerants in developing countries at government as well as industrial and servicing levels. This experience has been accumulated 

continuously since 1995 in about 40 developing countries, starting with the introduction of the “Greenfreeze” HC technology for refrigerators in China and India, and through extensive training programmes 

for refrigeration and air conditioning technicians, addressing many complex issues facing the servicing 

sector. GTZ Proklima also implements several natural refrigerant projects around the world including air 

conditioning, industrial and commercial refrigeration. 

To complement this, TÜV SÜD is providing experience with assessing the safety of refrigeration systems 

throughout the world, including certifying and accrediting newly developed equipment. The contributions of TÜV SÜD range from setting up a quality control infrastructure and undertaking inspections, 

to training and certification. 

Today is an appropriate time to widely introduce sustainable and economical natural refrigerants in 

developing countries to provide environmentally friendly cooling for comfort and productivity. A change 

from the ozone depleting HCFCs directly to HC refrigerants will contribute to a greener growth of 

developing economies. This will prevent a truly huge amount of greenhouse gas emissions thereby 

helping to preserve our planet for our children.
20

By Mr Bernhard Schrempf, TÜV SÜD, Munich, May 2010

The application of natural refrigerants in the refrigeration and air conditioning industry is increasing, 

and this is largely due to their favourable environmental characteristics. For over a century, ammonia 

(R717) has been used predominantly in larger refrigerating systems (typically with capacities of over 

100 kW), and its track record has been highly successful. However, for smaller capacities, the use of 

ammonia (R717) is less effective for various technical and cost reasons. Therefore the application of 

other natural refrigerants, such as the HCs – propane (R290), propene (R1270) and iso-butane (R600a) 

– may be widely used. These refrigerants are of course highly flammable and explosive, so that whilst 

their application as refrigerants may present excellent environmental benefits, their handling with the 

necessary expertise is essential.

Subject to compliance with certain safety principles, the application of flammable HC refrigerants can 

be done as safely as with any other type of refrigerant. This handbook is intended to inform about the 

best practices for applying, handling and otherwise working with flammable refrigerants in order that 

the systems and operations can be carried out securely. In addition to general safety information, it 

describes quality-assurance measures associated with the design and construction of components and 

systems, and desirable handling practices that should accompany their use.

In addition, one of the most important aspects facing the refrigeration industry today is that of 

refrigerant leakage. This issue is not only relevant to one group of refrigerants, but to all; flammable 

and non-flammable, alike. Permanently sealed systems provide not only a high level of safety, but also 

preserve the system’s efficiency. Thus, the issue of system tightness is also addressed in detail within 

this handbook.
21

DISCLAIMER

GTZ and TÜV SÜD do not assume liability for any statements made in this book or any actions taken by 

its readers or users, which may cause unintended damage or injury as a result of any recommendations or 

inferences made within this handbook. Although all statements and information contained herein are 

believed to be accurate and reliable, they are presented without guarantee or warranty of any kind, 

expressed or implied. Information provided herein does not relieve reader or user from their responsibility 

of carrying out its own evaluation and analysis of the situation, and reader or user assumes all risks and 

liability for use of the information, actions and events obtained. Reader or user should not assume that all 

safety data, measures and guidance are indicated herein or that other measures may not be required. This 

handbook makes only general recommendations on the use of HCs as refrigerants which do not compensate for individual guidance and instructions. National laws and guidelines must be consulted and adhered to under all circumstances. The handling of flammable refrigerants and its associated systems and 

equipment is to be done by qualified and trained technicians only.
22

1.1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1.1 Background

Interest in and application of hydrocarbon (HC) refrigerants is growing, especially now that the global 

warming impact of refrigerants is becoming an increasingly important aspect for the refrigeration and air 

conditioning industry.

The accelerated phase-out of HCFCs under the Montreal Protocol in September 2007 and a foreseen 

regulation of fluorinated gas emissions under a future climate change agreement – within the Montreal 

and Kyoto area – heighten the need to substitute widely used fluorinated substances in favour of climatefriendly refrigerants. 

Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants with their typically high GWP as well as environmentally 

friendly natural refrigerants (such as HCs, ammonia and carbon dioxide) are all available as mature 

technologies for most applications, both in industrialised and developing countries. If HFCs continue to 

replace HCFCs in a substantial manner, the climate benefits of the Montreal Protocol may be lost within 

a short period of time. Despite their superior properties, natural refrigerants continue to remain in the 

shadows, largely because of exaggerated safety concerns which are rarely properly addressed.

It is widely known that HCs are excellent refrigerants in terms of performance and because of their 

negligible environmental impact aspects. However it is generally acknowledged that their main hindrance is related to their flammability.

To date, extensive and reliable information on the safety issues of natural refrigerants is fairly disparate, 

and with the continual evolution of safety standards, much of the existing published information is 

increasingly outdated. Ensuring a good level of safety requires that all stages within the equipment life 

– from conception to destruction – are considered. Most of the publications currently available only 

address the discrete elements of a system’s life, for example, refrigerant handling, maintenance activities, 

design guidelines, etc In addition, some publications are rather basic or incomplete, whilst others (such 

as safety standards) often seem complex and require specialised knowledge in order to make them 

comprehensible. 

Therefore, the purpose of this publication is not only to collate much of the existing information and 

guidance related to the safe use of HC refrigerants, but also to present the information in a comprehensive manner such that all of the stages in the system’s life are covered in an interlinked way.

This handbook will function as a guidebook for policy-makers involved in designing nation-wide 

policies to support the use of natural refrigerants (i.e. regulatory aspects, standards, etc) and also for 

private companies who are deciding upon the introduction of HC refrigerants and who require knowledge about all the technical, economic, environmentally relevant and regulatory aspects on the safe use 

of HCs.

It has also been recognised that simply describing technical requirements is not always sufficient in itself 

to ensure that a high level of safety is achieved; introducing a robust infrastructure is equally important. 

PART 1: SAFETY INFRASTRUCTURE
23

For example, how government or industry bodies may set up schemes for certification of technician 

training, or how manufacturers, distributors or contracting companies may organise their quality 

management systems to help with the ongoing improvement of safety levels, etc, are all important 

considerations. 

1.1.2 Using the handbook

This handbook covers a wide range of aspects such as organisational, regulatory and technical aspects. 

Accordingly, it is divided into several sections, with each being aimed at particular groups of users. The 

parts are as follows:

• Part 1: Safety infrastructure

• Part 2: Quality systems for safety

• Part 3: Training

• Part 4: Production and manufacturing facilities

• Part 5: Equipment design and development

• Part 6: Working on systems and equipment

• Part 7: Case studies

In order to provide some guidance as to which groups of users may benefit most from reading certain 

sections, a brief summary and suggested target groups are listed in Table 1. Of course, the target groups 

are not exhaustive, but may be used to provide an indication as to the type of knowledge that may be 

gained by reviewing the relevant elements of a given part of this handbook. It is also noted that often, 

certain text within one part refers to text from another part, and in this way, each part cannot always be 

self-contained. For example, for those who are working on systems, the material within Part 6 is most 

relevant, although a technician may also need some knowledge of the rules that specify refrigerant 

charge limits, which are covered in detail in Part 5, since such issues are primarily a design matter. Part 7 

provides some case studies and does not include requirements for using HCs but provide a little insight 

into the experiences of enterprises that have been through the process.
Part Description Target groups Linked to

Part 1: 

Safety 

infrastructure

An overview of the implications of 

HCs to all stages of equipment 

lifetime and the background to 

managing safety issues

Directors and managers responsible 

for: technical aspects, product development, production line, training; 

policy-makers and national authorities; trade associations, technical 

institutes

Part 2, 

Part 3, 

Part 4, 

Part 5, 

Part 6

Part 2: 

Quality systems 

for safety

Considerations for setting up and 

operating a safety management 

system with a focus on handling HC 

refrigerants 

Managers and engineers responsible 

for: equipment production, projects; 

policy-makers, national authorities

Part 3,

Part 4, 

Part 5, 

Part 6

Part 3: 

Training

The approach for training different 

groups of people on different 

subjects and the formats for 

transfer of information 

Policy-makers, national ozone 

units, training institutions/trainers, 

teachers, lecturers

Part 4, 

Part 5, 

Part 6

Part 4: 

Production and 

manufacturing 

facilities

General aspects covering the setup 

behind production lines and in-house 

construction of systems and 

equipment using HCs, as well as 

workshop servicing of equipment

Managers and engineers involved 

with: production of equipment, 

in-house servicing and repairs

Part 2,

Part 6

Part 5: 

Equipment 

design and 

development

Compilation of the rules and 

peripheral information relating to 

the design and construction of 

systems using HCs, and risk 

assessment concepts to help 

evaluate the safety of equipment

Engineers and technicians involved 

with: development of systems, 

design, commissioning and servicing; trade associations, technical 

institutes

Part 2

Part 6: 

Working on 

systems and 

equipment

General guidelines for the practical 

handling of HC refrigerants and 

equipment during installation, 

servicing, maintenance and related 

activities

All field engineers and technicians 

involved with: servicing, repair, 

maintenance, disposal, refrigerant 

handling; technicians’ associations

Part 3,

Part 5

Part 7: 

Case studies

Examples of how enterprises have 

adopted the use of HC refrigerants

Manufacturers of systems, end 

users and operators

All Parts

24

Table 1: Overview of the various parts of the handbook and the target groups
In addition, there is supplementary information for reference purposes within the Appendices providing 

information on the following:

• Non-safety related technical aspects; this contains some general information about the application of 

HC refrigerants in terms of their behaviour in systems compared to conventional refrigerants, and also 

an overview of the types of systems and applications HCs are normally used within

• Example conversion procedures; to provide pictorial guidance to engineers and technicians about how 

systems may be converted to use HC refrigerants safely

• Cooperation partners; this includes a selection of different types of partners which may be of interest 

depending upon which country or region is under consideration

• Flammable characteristics of HCs; here a few characteristics of flammability are described, in order to 

help provide insight into the implications of flammable substances

• Calculations for refrigerant concentrations; this includes some information relating to the estimation of 

the refrigerant concentration arising from releases of refrigerant that may be applied to a variety of 

different circumstances within enclosed spaces, for assisting with safety assessments

• Equipment for technicians; a fairly exhaustive list of tools and equipment that would normally be 

required when working with or conducting practical training workshops for the use of HCs

• Material for refrigeration training modules; this is information detailing the criteria for minimum 

requirements for skills and competences for refrigeration technicians

• Record sheet for refrigerant use; an example of a data-sheet that resides with a system so that its system 

servicing and maintenance history can be logged

• Vapour pressure-temperature and liquid density tables; these can be used for estimating maximum 

operating pressures of the different refrigerants, and also used in calculations for estimating charge 

sizes of systems

The handbook is also complimented with a glossary and a comprehensive bibliography, including safety 

standards and codes of practice related to refrigeration issues as well as for hazardous areas and various 

other sources for further reading. 

Lastly, it is reiterated here that the safety of such systems and equipment requires many other aspects to 

be addressed such as pressure, mechanical, toxicity and electrical safety, and for these, guidelines on 

general safety and refrigeration safety should be sought.

1.1.3 Approach of the handbook

To assist the reader with utilising this handbook, an overview of how it is compiled is presented. A 

conceptual overview of the important elements that contribute to addressing the safety of refrigeration 

and air conditioning (RAC) equipment throughout its lifetime are illustrated in Figure 1. The general 

conceptual stages that the equipment goes through during its lifetime are indicated in the centre of 

Figure 1, starting with its design and ending with its disposal at end of life. Each of these stages normally requires slightly different information due to the specific demands for that stage. 

The information is largely sourced from the “sector”, typically in the form of regulations, safety standards and also fundamental technical information. Such information may then be transposed into more 

useable formats. Typically this is carried out by the “industry”; specific bodies associated with the RAC 

industry, such as trade associations, technical institutes, colleges, universities and development agencies 

(particularly in the case of A5 countries) may compile the information from the sector sources to produce industry guidelines, codes of practice or other such material. Similarly, particular organisations, 

such as manufacturers, contracting companies or even training companies may also produce their own 

internal guidelines. For this, the information may be sourced from the regulations, standards, etc, and 

also, if available, from the industry guidelines. Often the guidelines, whether industry-wide or internal 

to a particular organisation, will be broadly applicable to one or two of the equipment stages (for example, design stage or installation and servicing stage).

25
Figure 1: General overview of the approach covered in the handbook

How this information is transferred to the individuals who are directly involved with the equipment at 

each of the stages of its life is of utmost importance. Thus, ensuring a comprehensive approach to 

learning is essential; this may be in the form of technical training, attendance of seminars and practical 

workshops, reading of relevant literature and actually putting the information that has been learned into 

practice. Topics relevant to the individual’s intended involvement with the equipment should be targeted 

as well as providing a general overview of many of the issues. 

In order to ensure that the designs, practices, operation and other activities are as intended, a process of 

data-gathering should be carried out, and this may be voluntary or mandatory according to certain 

stipulations. Such data-gathering may be in the form of recording working methods or procedures, 

carrying out on-site or laboratory testing, inspections or gathering and compiling field data. 

This data may then be utilised in a number of different ways, either in-house by certain individuals 

within the organisation, or by a third party. The data may be used to assess the reliability of components, processes or operations. It may also be used to verify that certain designated criteria are being met, 

and in certain cases, approval and certification of designs, testing, procedures and so on. In addition, the 

same data-gathering and assessment and certification procedures may be used for ensuring that the 

necessary learning processes are being conducted properly.

One of the most useful outputs from both data-gathering and third-party activities, are the provision of 

feedback in terms of recommendations, guidance and other advice. This may be related to the success or 

viability of the initial guidance material for design, manufacture, servicing, or indeed, in case there are 

any problems with the sector know-how such as parts of safety standards. 

26
Figure 2 provides an indication of which parts of this handbook are applicable to the different elements 

for addressing the safety of RAC equipment. However, it must be noted that there is cross-over amongst 

most of the topics that are covered, so the indication in Figure 2 is only approximate. (Note that Part 7 

isn’t included since it doesn’t provide direct guidance.)

Figure 2: Indication of the relevance of each part of the handbook

Overall, the different parts of the handbook are broadly arranged with the most general aspects dealt 

with first (Part 1, 2 and 3), and then the more specific issues related to the particular stages within the 

equipment lifetime dealt with in the latter parts (Parts 4, 5 and 6). 

As a final remark, it should be noted that each situation, especially from an individual country respect, 

should be considered with discretion. In many cases, practices that may be suitable or appropriate within 

one country may not be in another. In particular, legal systems and existing safety infrastructures vary 

by country and often by region to some degree. Therefore the guidelines within this handbook may have 

to be morphed to suit the individual geographical and political regions, as well as particular types of 

enterprises and products.

1.1.4 Considerations for policy-makers

There are a number of important issues that should be considered by policy-makers. Based on the 

current trends, it is widely accepted that HC refrigerants will be occupying a notable portion of the 

refrigerant usage in the near to medium future. This of course will present significant energy efficiency, 

environmental and in many cases cost benefits, as well as avoiding or even bypassing reliance on costly 

synthetic alternative refrigerants. However, it is essential that authorities handle the situation strategically, not only with planning future eventualities, but also to exploit the situation. For instance, in 

carrying out the necessary training, further incentives should be introduced to help raise the standards 

of technician qualifications – to include a deeper understanding of energy efficiency, environmental 

aspects as well as reliability – so as to prepare the entire sector for a long future and sustainable technology. 

27
28

In terms of general considerations for the introduction of HC refrigerants, the following items may be 

pertinent:

• Awareness raising. It is important that not only RAC technicians are aware of the refrigerant (as well as 

efficiency and environmental) issues, but other stakeholders that are at the periphery of the industry. In 

particular, awareness-raising campaigns should be developed for both the RAC industry and for the 

wider sectors, such as for architects, construction people, building operators, facilities managers, 

end-users, etc. 

• Focus on training. Ensuring a high level of safety is essential and one of the key way and means of 

doing this is through the training of technicians, but also other engineers within the sector. Not only 

does this target safety, but it also helps uplift the entire servicing sector in terms of improvements in 

knowledge and know-how, quality of work, awareness, and so on. Supporting this should be a focus on 

registration and licensing schemes for technicians and engineers. Within this, it may be appropriate to 

set levels of qualifications and allocation of corresponding levels of permission to work on particular 

types of systems.

• Culture shift. In many locations, the importance of a “safety culture” is not as embedded within the 

industry as in other countries. Measures should be introduced to help shift the industry culture to 

taking the issue of safety (as well as related topics such as leakage avoidance, efficiency, etc) much more 

seriously. Again, this may be done through legislation, awareness raising and incentives. 

• Steady and surely. Approach the instruction of HCs in a controlled and steady manner, so that working 

practices and behaviour can be changed in a measured and controlled way. One approach may be to 

consider a phased introduction of HC according to sectors, for example, start with simple/easy systems 

and build-up to more complex installations over time. Another option is to integrate with existing or 

new technician registration schemes, where only the more highly trained or more qualified technicians 

are permitted to use HCs, and the use of accreditation systems. Or a combination of the two. 

• “National experts”. Possibly establish a central point within the country or region, where safety or other 

technical issues may be resolved. For this, authorities could encourage selected individuals from the 

field to become “national experts” who can dedicate themselves to information gathering and who can 

work with and coach enterprises to introduce HCs properly and safely and with minimum problems. 

In addition it may be an option to give authority to organisations or expert individuals to carry out 

checks and inspections to ensure that the relevant rules are being followed and the necessary level of 

safety is being achieved.

• Develop incentives. Whilst the environmental benefits are widely known, incentives may be provided to 

help encourage industry to overcome the additional implications of using HCs. Examples include tax 

allowances or other financial benefits that favour the use of low-GWP refrigerants, deliberation of 

import tariffs, or conversely other means to disincentivise the use of high GWP alternatives. In any 

case, these should be linked to ensuring or guaranteeing the responsible use of HCs.

• Regulations and standards. Authorities may wish to consider introducing legal and other instruments 

such as safety standards to help direct the use and application of HC refrigerants – or indeed all refrigerants. Alternatively if such rules currently exist, authorities can identify means for modifying existing 

regulations and standards to enable the wider and safer use of HCs. However, in doing this, it is important to make sure that regulations and standards are not overly prescriptive, but employ a framework to 

enable safe and innovative use of HCs without unnecessarily prohibiting its use. Thus, it is sensible to 

use national and international experts to review and guide new or modified regulations and standards. 

For many of the considerations discussed above, it is important to involve the RAC industry. In doing 

this, it is preferable to empower industry bodies that encompass all stakeholders, including those on the 

periphery, including development agencies and environmental NGOs. At the same time, it can also be 

prudent to avoid too-strong a representation of any one body or group of interests, since – as has been 

seen many times before – a strong bias is likely to emerge, and thus stifles development of new technologies. The industry-wide involvement may be in the form of establishing regular forums for technical 

exchanges, sharing experiences, informing of the latest developments and collating such technical 

information for widespread dissemination. This may also include developing and setting minimum 
29

standards for training organisations, producing technical guidelines on best practices and working 

through strategies and policies.

1.1.5 Key stages during equipment lifetime

In order to ensure that products and installations using HC refrigerants are safe throughout their entire 

lifetime – both to members of the public and those that work on them, it is essential to address every 

single stage in the equipment lifetime. Here, the stages in the equipment lifetime from Figure 1 are 

elaborated on, as shown in Figure 3.

To the left of Figure 3 are the key stages in the equipment lifetime, from conception of the product to 

the disposal of the equipment. In the centre column are examples of the personnel that are primarily 

concerned with working on those stages. To the right are examples of the types of activities those 

personnel are required to be competent at, in order to maintain a high level of safety. All the personnel 

involved need to be aware of their responsibilities, and those in charge must make sure that the workers 

are informed and aware of those responsibilities. Furthermore, it is clear that the actions taken by 

personnel at any stage in the equipment life usually have consequences at the latter equipment stages. 

Figure 3: Overview of the stages within the equipment lifetime, the key personnel and the subject groups 

that may be needed to execute the work
30

There are common activities within many of the stages, meaning that many of the people involved in 

such stages need to be familiar with the technical details from various sections. For example, people 

working in production, installation, servicing, maintenance and decommissioning all need to be aware 

of good refrigerant handling practices. Also, people involved with the design, commissioning, servicing 

and maintenance all need to be familiar with the requirements of the safety standards. Thus, many of 

the issues are interrelated throughout all the stages of the equipment life. 

In general, whilst an organisation is preparing material for and working on each of the stages within the 

equipment lifetime, the following issues should be kept in mind:

• In order to assist those working at the various stages, it would be useful to provide staff with concise, 

easy to use manuals, guidance notes, etc, focussed on each part or for each key activity they are 

expected to carry out. Ensure that it is comprehensible and peer reviewed.

• Provide proper and thorough training to those involved, both theoretical and practical.

• Check other literature; manuals, handbooks, industry guidelines, manufacturers documentation, 

refrigerant suppliers information, etc, and the original regulations and safety standards to ensure that 

the correct information is used.

• Develop a system for obtaining feedback from other stages and set up a scheme for information 

sharing. Using such feedback, for example, from field data, technicians, etc, on aspects such as leakage, 

equipment and component failures, problems with repairs, actual minor or major accidents, and so on. 

Utilising this information will greatly enhance the level of safety for the future. 

Lastly, producing guidelines can never anticipate all the situations that may be encountered, or all the 

peculiarities of different types of equipment. Therefore it is important that individuals understand the 

logic behind the rules of the requirements, and in this way they can be adapted to new or unforeseen 

equipment and situations.

1.2 BASIC SAFETY WITH FLAMMABLE REFRIGERANTS

1.2.1 Introduction

Safety is of concern when applying any refrigerant, with respect to hazards arising from toxicity, asphyxiation, pressure explosions, mechanical injury, and so on. The use of HC refrigerants poses an additional 

flammability hazard. Quantities of flammable liquids or gases can be found in most workplaces, domiciles, and other environments; examples include petrol, paints, toiletries, heating fuels and alcohol. In all 

cases, these substances must be packaged, handled and used in an appropriate manner otherwise they 

can pose a serious hazard. Therefore certain safety principles are followed to ensure that an acceptably 

high level of safety is maintained. To use HC refrigerants safely, it is essential to understand flammability hazards and the corresponding means of achieving an appropriate level of safety.

There are three main aspects to consider when dealing with HC refrigerants:

• Ensuring the system is leak-tight, and sufficiently robust throughout its lifetime

• Ensuring the safety of equipment that uses or comes into contact with flammable atmospheres

• Protection of workers that may come into contact with flammable atmospheres in the workplace

The responsibility for the leak-tightness and the general safety of equipment normally lies with the 

manufacturer/producer and/or installer of the equipment. Equipment must be designed and constructed 

such that emissions and thus the creation of a flammable atmosphere is, as much as practicably possible, 
31

eliminated. This may be achieved through leak-tight design, ventilation and certain protective systems. 

Where it is possible for a flammable atmosphere to be created, those responsible for the positioning or 

installation of the equipment must ensure that ignition of that flammable atmosphere is not possible, for 

example, through elimination of potential sources of ignition. These matters are mainly addressed in 

Part 4 and Part 5 of this handbook.

The responsibility for protection of workers normally lies with employers and owners or operators of 

facilities where flammable atmospheres could occur. Therefore it is important for those people to be 

aware of the presence of flammable substances, put control measures in place to control the risk and 

reduce the occurrence of any incidents through the preparation of plans and procedures. This also 

includes ensuring that employees and other workers are properly informed about and trained to control 

or deal with the risks accordingly and also identifying and classifying areas of the workplace where 

flammable atmospheres may occur and avoiding potential ignition sources in those areas. These matters 

are mainly addressed in Part 3 and Part 6 of this handbook.

1.2.2 Safety classification of HC refrigerants

The most widely used classification of substances is under the UN, where so-called dangerous goods 

receive a classification according to their main hazards. For the HCs commonly used as refrigerants, 

these are all classified as: UN Class: 2, gases, Division 2.1, flammable gas. However, within the RAC 

industry, a different classification scheme is applied. Most refrigerants are assigned a safety classification, 

which is a function of toxicity and flammability. The classification scheme is adopted by such standards 

as ISO 817 and EN 378. An overview of this scheme is shown in Table 2. 

The toxicity classification is based on whether toxicity has or has not been identified at concentrations of 

less than 400 ppm by volume, based on data used to determine the threshold limit value – time weighted 

average (TLV-TWA) or consistent indices. There are two toxicity classes:

• Class A refrigerants are those where no toxicity has been observed below 400 ppm

• Class B refrigerants are those where toxicity has been observed below 400 ppm

The flammability classification depends upon whether or not the substances can be ignited in standardised tests, and if so, what the lower flammability limit (LFL) and the heat of combustion are. There are 

three flammability classes:1

 

• Class 1 refrigerants are those that do not show flame propagation when tested in air at 60°C and 

standard atmospheric pressure

• Class 2 refrigerants are those that exhibit flame propagation when tested at 60°C and atmospheric 

pressure, but have a LFL higher than 3.5% by volume, and have a heat of combustion of less than 

19,000 kJ/kg

• Class 3 refrigerants are also those that exhibit flame propagation when tested at 60°C and atmospheric 

pressure, but have an LFL at or less than 3.5% by volume, or have a heat of combustion that is equal to 

or greater than 19,000 kJ/kg

Since the common HC refrigerants (R290, R600a, R1270) have a TLV-TWA of 1,000 ppm or higher (depending upon the source of the information), they have a Class A toxicity classification. However, these 

refrigerants do exhibit flame propagation under standard atmospheric conditions, and the LFL is typically around 2% with the heat of combustion around 50,000 kJ/kg. Thus the flammability classification 

is Class 3. Overall, this renders them with an A3 safety classification according to the relevant standards. 

1 Currently there are attempts to introduce a new “lower” lower flammability class (“Class 2L”) into certain safety standards, 

which are intended to advantage certain flammable HFC refrigerants. However, this proposed classification does not impact on 

the use of HC refrigerants. 
32

Table 2: Refrigerant safety classification scheme 

By comparison, most common CFC, HCFC and HFC refrigerants, as well as R744 (carbon dioxide) 

have an A1 classification, although some HFCs have an A2 classification. A few HCFCs and HFCs 

have a B1 classification, whilst R717 (ammonia) has a B2 classification. There are no B3 refrigerants 

(although this may be possible with certain mixtures).

Typically, a “higher” classification – that is toxicity Class B instead of Class A, and flammability Class 3 

instead of Class 1 – means that the refrigerating system has more onerous design requirements associated 

with it, in order to handle the higher risk presented by the refrigerant. The guidance included in Parts 5 

and 6 of this handbook address these issues. 

In addition, there is another measure for the application of refrigerants, termed the practical concentration limit (PL). This represents the highest concentrations level in an occupied space which will not 

result in any escape impairing (i.e., acute) effects. Thus, it is principally, the lowest “dangerous” concentration of a refrigerant, with a safety factor applied. The estimation of PL is based on the lowest of the 

following:

• Acute toxicity exposure limit (ATEL), based on mortality (in terms of LC50) and/or cardiac 

sensitisation, and/or anaesthetic or central nervous system (CNS) effects

• Oxygen deprivation limit (ODL)

• 20% of the lower flammability limit

Since, for HC refrigerants, 20% of the LFL represents the lowest concentration out of the above, this is 

the characteristic used to determine the PL. The PL is normally expressed in terms of mass per unit 

volume, and for the common HC refrigerants, it is approximated as 0.008 kg/m3

, or 8 g/m3. For other 

refrigerants, such as most CFCs, HCFCs and HFCs, the PL is based on the ATEL and ODL values, and 

therefore tends to be higher than for the HCs. Consequently, the quantity of HC refrigerant permitted 

tend to be much less than most CFCs, HCFCs and HFCs. (However, the general principles here apply to 

all flammable refrigerants regardless of whether they are HCs or not.)

1.2.3 Basic approach for working with flammable refrigerants

For anyone involved in the use of flammable substances, they should be mindful of the following:

• Know that there is a flammable substance being used and what its characteristics are

• Be aware of the practices for the safe handling and storage of flammable substances

• Introduce procedures and apply designs to prevent accidents arising from the flammable substances

• Find more detailed information when you need it

Classification

Toxicity

Class A Class B

lower chronic toxicity higher chronic toxicity

Flammability

Class 1 no flame propagation A1 B1

Class 2 lower flammability A2 B2

Class 3 higher flammability A3 B3
33

It is essential to understand the basic concept of flammability. Three ingredients are needed for a fire: a 

fuel at the right concentration, a supply of oxygen normally from air, and a source of ignition. The 

common way of illustrating this is by means of the fire triangle, in Figure 4. If you control these components, for example, by eliminating at least one, but preferably two of these, fire can be prevented. In 

order to achieve this, three general guidelines should be followed: containment of the substance, avoidance of ignition sources, use of ventilation.

Figure 4: The fire triangle

Containment

The flammable substances must be kept within a suitably designed and constructed “container”, be it a 

cylinder or a refrigeration system. If the substance leaks, it should be prevented from spreading to other areas. 

Ignition sources

Ensure that all the obvious and unobvious ignition sources have been removed from the equipment and 

handling areas. Ignition sources can vary greatly and these sources may include sparks from electrical 

equipment or welding and cutting tools, hot surfaces, open flames from heating equipment, smoking 

materials, etc.

Ventilation

There should be adequate airflow where flammable substances are stored and used. Good ventilation will 

mean that any vapour arising from a leak or a release will be rapidly dispersed. 

In addition to these, it is also important to consider the severity of the consequences of igniting the 

flammable substance. In some cases, the result of ignition could be minor, such as a momentary flame. 

Other situations may result in a serious explosion. Thus the quantity of flammable substance and the 

environment within which it is being held must be observed to understand the significance of an accident.

In terms of the use of refrigerants, the entire lifetime of the equipment must be considered with respect 

to the guidance alone, both in terms of how the technicians handle the equipment, and how the equipment behaves when under normal use. Such considerations are necessary right from the conception of 

the equipment through to the design and installation stage since design features can affect the level of 

safety at a later stage. Here, both the groups of people who are at risk should be borne in mind: technicians and members of the public.

In order to address these in as comprehensive a manner as possible, a number of dimensions must be 

studied and understood by the personnel involved in the application of flammable refrigerants:

• Flammable characteristics of HC refrigerants, in order to appreciate what constitutes a flammable 

mixture

• Concepts of risk analysis, and an understanding of refrigerant leakage, gas dispersion, sources of 

ignition and consequences of ignition

• General requirements of regulations, safety standards and other industry guidance
34

The understanding obtained in these subjects can then be applied by the relevant parties to the stages of 

the lifetime of equipment under consideration, such as design, testing, production, distribution, installation, workshop activities, and servicing, and so on. This is equally useful when carrying out and interpreting the outputs for quality control of equipment, safety testing, third party inspections, labelling, etc.

1.3 DEVELOPMENT OF SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

1.3.1 Introduction

It is essential to utilise all the tools that are available to ensure as high a level of safety as possible, 

stretching from the conception of the product or equipment to disposal at the end of life of the equipment. Such tools may be perceived as different layers of protection, applied to minimise the risk posed by 

the flammable refrigerant. These primarily address: safety planning, investigation of elements at various 

stages and auditing and assessment of the findings. These concepts are primarily aimed at directors and 

managers, but also supervisors and engineers, since it is the senior individuals that normally have the 

responsibility to implement such systems. 

The components of a robust safety management system are illustrated in Figure 5. There are five stages 

that are crucial to a safety management system, starting with development of the safety policy within the 

organisation, handling of personnel, development and implementation of guidelines, introducing means 

to gather data and measure performance, and then reviewing that performance. Linked to all of these is 

an auditing process, to check that all is operating as intended. This entire system should be applied to 

the product or equipment at one or more of its stages, depending upon the level of involvement or 

responsibility that the organisation has over the product or equipment. There are also external elements 

that feed into the safety system. For example, the use of regulation and safety standards used to develop 

internal policy and guidelines; training and other educational schemes for the instruction of personnel; 

testing, monitoring and feedback procedures for measuring and reviewing performance, which third 

parties may also participate in. 

Figure 5: Overview of key elements of safety management system
35

1.3.2 Development of a policy

In principle, it is the intention to avoid safety-related problems in whatever stage of the equipment 

lifetime is under consideration. Such problems may include cessation of production process, endemic 

fault within a specific design, injury to staff, injury to members of the public and damage to own or 

others’ property. Thus, it is important to devise controls to avoid such forms of accidental loss. The 

general approach for doing this is: identification of hazards g assessment of risks g decision regarding 

precautions needed g implementation of guidelines g verifying that they are used. This thought 

process defines the groundwork for a safety policy, and such policies should cover all activities that the 

organisation is involved in. This may include the selection of personnel for particular jobs, equipment 

and materials, design of equipment and products, the way work is carried out, how services are provided, 

and so on.

A written statement of policy and the organisation and arrangements for implementing and monitoring 

it demonstrates to staff, and anyone else, that hazards have been identified and risks assessed, eliminated 

or controlled. Thus, for all of the stages throughout the equipment lifetime, there must be a clearly 

documented safety policy.

Key elements of a policy should guarantee the following:

• Lessons are learned from mistakes and successes

• Safety audits are carried out

• Action is taken according to the findings of audits and it is documented

• Audits involve personnel at all levels as well as external contractors 

• Reviews of safety policy and guidelines are carried out frequently

1.3.3 Organising personnel

To make the safety policy effective it is essential to organise all personnel related to the safety systems, 

and moreover, they should be involved and committed. Of primary importance is to ensure that the 

personnel are competent, through proper recruitment, training and advisory support, specifically:

• Assess the skills needed to carry out all tasks safely, whether it is managerial or practical work

• Provide the means to ensure that all personnel are adequately instructed and trained

• Ensure that people doing especially hazardous work have the necessary training, experience and other 

qualities to carry out the work safely

• Arrange for access to sound advice and help, such as training, technical updates and so on

• Carry out restructuring or reorganisation to ensure the competence of those having safety-critical 

responsibilities

In order to make sure personnel are engaged with the policy, formulate a robust control system, for 

example, by allocating responsibilities, securing commitment, instruction and supervision. In addition:

• Demonstrate a commitment and provide clear direction and ensure everyone knows the importance of 

safety issues

• Identify people responsible for particular activities, especially where special expertise is called for, e.g. 

carrying out risk assessments, handling refrigerant, designing systems, etc

• Ensure that managers, supervisors, engineers and technicians understand their responsibilities and 

have the time and resources to carry them out

• Ensure everyone knows what they must do and how they will be held accountable

Since the safety system normally relies upon coordination of various parties, there must be genuine 

cooperation between individuals and groups. This may be achieved by:
36

• Setting up dedicated safety committees and consulting all personnel that may be involved.

• Involving personnel at all levels (such as from technician to technical manager) in planning and 

reviewing safety-related activities, writing procedures and identifying and solving problems

• Co-ordinating and co-operating with personnel from other organisations that are working on the same 

project or similar issues

All policies and subsequent actions must be well communicated, whether verbally or in written form, 

and always properly disseminated. Such information should include information about hazards, risks 

and preventive measures to personnel and any others working on the premises or on the equipment 

externally. Forums should also be set up to discuss safety matters on a regular basis. In general, it is 

important to ensure that:

• Responsibilities for specific safety matters have been allocated to the appropriate people

• Personnel are clear on what they have to do and that they will be held accountable

• Everyone involved in the relevant processes are properly consulted 

• Personnel have sufficient information about the safety issues and risks

• All individuals have the minimum levels of expertise and they are properly trained

• If and when specialist advice from outside is needed, it is arranged

Specifically in the case of refrigerating systems, it is essential that all personnel dealing with systems – 

from their conception to destruction – are competent to carry out special activity or activities. The 

development of safe refrigeration systems thus requires education in several fields, particularly pressure 

safety for the refrigerant system, tightness of the refrigerant system, electrical safety for the equipment 

and avoidance of flammable atmospheres. Furthermore, in most refrigeration systems there are pressure 

vessels and pipes under pressure, so it is necessary that personnel are competent in these different fields. 

Continuing education over time is also necessary, for which there exist a variety of courses directed at 

technicians, engineers and electricians covering practical aspects of refrigeration plant operation, servicing and general maintenance. 

1.3.4 Planning and setting guidelines

Planning involves setting objectives, identifying hazards, assessing risks, implementing performance 

criteria and developing a positive culture. Practical steps that need to be taken include:

• Identifying hazards and assessing risks, and deciding how they can be eliminated or controlled

• Complying with the safety legislation that apply to the organisation as a whole and the process or 

equipment in particular

• Developing and agreeing targets with relevant personnel

• Forming a robust purchasing and supply policy for safety-related components or services

• Designing tasks, processes, equipment, products and services and safe systems of work

• Establishing procedures to deal with serious and imminent danger

• Co-operating with other organisations, subcontractors, etc

• Setting performance criteria against which the effectiveness of the safety measures can be verified

Guidelines should describe what personnel must do to deliver the safety policy and to control risk. They 

must identify who does what, when and with what result, and in order to validate this they must be: 

measurable and achievable. For example, statements such as “staff must be trained” are difficult to 

measure if it is not specified what “trained” exactly means and who has the responsibility to do the work. 
37

FAILING WELL!

Enterprises and other organisations should be encouraged to develop a “fail-well” culture. 

Within any area of business failures and mistakes should be analysed in order to gain an 

improvement, and the same applies to the field of safety. It is widely seen that the most 

successful organisations within safety-critical fields embrace this type of culture.

Often, if an engineer, technician, etc, makes a mistake or a minor accident occurs, they will 

keep the occurrence to themselves, and are unlikely to report it. Such a failure may be 

considered shameful and will be kept a secret and “hopefully” forgotten. This occurs because 

of the fear of getting into trouble, being disciplined, punished and ridiculed by others – such 

a mentality is present in many organisations.

However, such a culture is not only counter-productive but also destructive, both to the 

individual, their peers and the organisation as a whole. Since improvements are made through 

learning from mistakes, trial and error, analysis of undesirable outcomes, and so on, hiding 

or ignoring of mistakes, problems and accidents will inhibit positive development. For this 

reason, it is necessary to makes changes within the organisation to create a “fail well” 

culture.

The management within the organisation must promote this shift in thinking, by raising 

awareness, developing policy and also demonstrating to the staff through their own participation. Within the organisation accept that mistakes are not avoidable, objective, single events, 

remove any stigma associated with admitting and reporting mistakes and moreover, reward 

individuals for their honesty and for highlighting their mistakes that could or did lead to 

accidents. Through analysing the reported mistakes and accidents and developing subsequent 

improvements in working procedures, operation of equipment and so on, the benefits can be 

demonstrated to the staff. 

Systems should be put in place to process the feedback – work with the individual to understand why they made the decision they took based on the information they had, analyse these 

decisions based on what they knew at the time, identify systemic errors that occurred in 

under- or overestimating difficulties, complexities, abilities, 

availability of equipment, and so on. All staff should be fully 

engaged in the development of the process and rewarded and 

championed for their contribution to improvement the levels 

of safety. Perhaps the most significant benefit of adopting 

this culture is that it helps mitigate catastrophic accidents; 

if there are many smaller mistakes, or “near misses”, the 

possibility of a major accident increases. Therefore if these 

less severe events are avoided, prevention of major accidents 

will follow.
38

In general, it is important to ensure that:

• A safety plan is in place 

• That safety matters are always considered before any new product, project or activity is started

• All hazards are identified and risks assessed with respect to personnel, members of the public, and property

• There are guidelines that address the relevant aspects, such as behaviour within premises, operation of 

plant, control of substances, operating procedures, and so on

• Plans are in place to deal with serious or imminent danger, such as major releases of gas, fires, process 

deviations, etc

1.3.5 Measuring performance

It is essential to measure the performance of aspects related to safety matters. This provides an indication 

of how successful the approach which has been taken is. Active monitoring, before things go wrong, 

involves regular inspection and checking to ensure that your guidelines are being implemented and 

management controls are working. Reactive monitoring, after things go wrong, involves learning from 

mistakes, whether they have resulted in equipment failures, incidents, property damage, injuries or near 

misses.

There are two key components of monitoring systems:

• Active monitoring; before things go wrong – this checks whether the objectives set out in the guidelines are being met and are effective

• Reactive monitoring; after things go wrong – this enables the learning of mistakes and subsequent 

optimisation of procedures, guidelines, etc, as a result of investigations into components failures, 

incidents, damage and injuries

Information from both active and reactive monitoring should be used to identify situations that create 

risks, and do something about them. Priority should be given where risks are greatest. Look closely at 

serious events and those with potential for serious harm. Both require an understanding of the immediate and the underlying causes of events. In the case of reactive monitoring, investigate and record what 

happened, and find out why. Refer such information to the personnel with authority to take remedial 

action, which may including change of suppliers, improving test methods, or even organisational and 

policy changes.

In general, it is important to ensure that:

• Whether the organisation is meeting the objectives and guidelines for safety aspects

• The controls for risks are sufficient

• The organisation is complying with the safety legislation that affects the processes, products, and so on

• The investigations get to all the underlying causes of a problem

• Investigations do not just stop when it has found the first person that has made a mistake

• There are accurate records of all faults, problems, errors, and so on that may lead to incidents, injuries, 

and accidental loss

1.3.6 Auditing and reviewing

Monitoring provides the information to enable reviews to be carried out on components, assemblies and 

activities and helps identify how to improve guidelines and thus, performance. Audits, either by personnel within the organisation or by third parties from outside the organisation, complement the monitoring activities. Auditing may be used to check the suitability or accuracy of the monitoring process, test 

within a different environment, or check to see if the policy, guidelines, organisation and internal 

mechanisms are actually achieving the intended results. In short, it helps inform about the reliability and 

effectiveness of the safety systems. 
39

It is constructive to combine the results from measuring performance with information from the audits 

to help improve the approach for the safety management. This is done in conjunction with reviewing the 

effectiveness of the safety policy, whilst paying particular attention to:

• The degree of compliance with safety performance and guidelines, including legislation

• Areas where guidelines are absent or inadequate

• Achievement of the objectives and performance criteria

• Failure and incident data, including analyses of immediate and underlying causes, trends and common 

features

These indicators will show you where you need to improve. 

1.4 IDENTIFICATION OF COOPERATION PARTNERS 

1.4.1 Introduction

When a company initiates the introduction of HC refrigerants in their equipment, either for manufacturing, installing, servicing, or some other activity, and there is an absence of knowledge or experience, 

the company should seek out support from cooperation partners. Some refrigeration institutions / 

organisations worldwide such as associations, universities, laboratories, national ministries or governmental departments offer companies support and consulting referring how to deal with refrigeration systems. 

There are several types of organisations that may be approached for support:

• Industry associations 

• Technical institutes and associations

• Development agencies and international funds

• National authorities

• Standardisation bodies

• Accreditation bodies

It should also be noted that in certain cases, some organisations may not be sympathetic to the uptake of 

HCs or other alternative refrigerants. Therefore, it is important to choose cooperation partners wisely. 

Several such organisations are listed in the Appendix 3.

1.4.2 Industry associations 

Industry associations vary widely. Within the RAC sector they tend to represent groups of commercial 

organisations, for example, end users of RAC equipment, contractors/installers, component manufacturers, appliance producers, and so on. Their primary objective tends to be supporting the collective 

interests of their member companies. Their activities may include setting up trade events, exchanging 

market developments, producing industry guidance, and defending their members’ activities within 

commercial, environmental or political arenas. Most industry associations operate on a membership 

scheme, where a company may join, for a certain fee, which may be as a function of the size of the 

company. 

Obviously, if the large majority of an industry association’s membership comprises companies that have 

no interest, or even technologies compete against HC refrigerants, then it is unlikely that cooperation 

will be forthcoming. On the other hand, industry associations do exist that are dedicated to HC refrigerants, or natural refrigerants, or related technology, in which case there could be benefits to be gained. In 

this case, the types of cooperation possible may include:
40

• Sourcing of technical information

• Developing technical or other types of guidance

• Identification of market areas

• Introductions to other partners

• Legislative or policy support

Normally, information on industry associations can be found on the internet, within trade journals or at 

exhibitions.

1.4.3 Technical institutes and associations

Here, the term ‘technical institutes’ covers a range of different bodies, although in particular, it refers to 

non-commercial organisations whose primary interest is of technological or scientific nature. The main 

examples include universities and polytechnics (with departments involved with RAC and related 

subjects), private and public research organisations, and societies dedicated to the dissemination of 

technical information. Thus, the types of activities that these organisations may be involved in could be 

public research and development projects, private research work, organisation of conferences, development of technical literature, and so on. 

Some such organisations have individual membership schemes or consortia schemes whilst others may 

only carry out work specifically upon request and probably payment. Since technical institutes are largely 

technology-neutral, in that they don’t tend to have commercial biases, they can be very useful for 

obtaining independent information, in this respect. Also the reliability of technical information can be 

of a higher quality and go into more depth, than from certain other sources. Typically, technical institutes can be useful for:

• Evaluation of products

• Carrying out independent test work

• Development and evaluation of a particular technology

• Producing specific technical guidance

• Solving particular technical problems

However, it is important to ensure that if paying for their assistance, be sure to identify ones that have 

expertise in the particular topic under consideration, so as to increase the potential for obtaining values 

for money. 

Normally, information on technical institutes can be found on the internet, or from checking associations of technical reports or other technical publications.

1.4.4 Development agencies

Development agencies include UN organisations, bilateral partners and international funds. Under the 

Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the United Nations development agencies 

(and a few bilateral partners) operate as implementing agencies and provide assistance to developing 

countries (A5 countries under the Montreal Protocol) to phase-out ODS, such as the fluorinated 

refrigerants, i.e. CFC, HCFC (and possibly in the future also for HFC).

The agencies provide partner countries with both policy advice and assistance with implementation of 

phase-out measures of ODS, e.g. technology transfer and capacity building for the introduction of 

alternative environment-friendly technologies. Partner countries receive financial/technical help with the 

submission of project proposals to the Multilateral Fund’s Executive Committee.2

 The application for 

funding goes through national governments and their respective national ozone officers. 

2 More information about implementing agencies to the Multilateral Fund is available on the Multilateral Fund internet site 

(www.multilateralfund.org/implementing_agencies.htm)
41

In addition, other funding sources from bilateral or multilateral partners may be available for the 

implementation of projects to introduce HC refrigerants as climate-friendly alternative to fluorinated 

greenhouse gases. One example is the International Climate Initiative funded by the German Federal 

Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. The International Climate Initiative supports climate protection projects in developing and newly industrialising countries and in 

transition countries in Central and Eastern Europe.3

1.4.5 National authorities

National authorities, such as Environmental Ministries and Health and Safety Departments are involved 

in formulation of policies and legislation relevant to HC refrigerants. The legislation may affect the 

workplace and so to ensure the safety of the people working with HCs, it may prescribe regulatory 

controls as it is often classified as a hazardous gas (e.g. for transport etc) and detail precautionary 

measures on how to prevent ignition. Certain laws may prescribe certification of the design, manufacture, supply, operation, and repair of pressure equipment used in workplaces. 

Most national authorities manage valuable information and data sources and may give guidance on 

proper set-up of safety infrastructure for the application of HCs for different settings and conditions. For 

example, inquiries related to proper fire protection in buildings may be addressed to safety and fire 

protection institutes/authorities. Information on technical backgrounds such as safety tests and regular 

safety checks may be obtained from research institutes for engineering and safety.

As the involvement of national authorities varies widely from country to country and even between 

districts on the sub-national level it is not possible to make any general statements on their form of 

involvement. The following paragraphs highlights some main authorities and their possible functions in 

the very first steps of introducing legislation on HCs – where there is no policy in place yet, as is currently the case in many developing countries.

In the course of formulating a national phase-out plan for the HCFC phase-out, national authorities 

have taken the opportunity to create a framework enabling a wide application of HCs. The introduction 

of HCs is also regarded as a contribution to climate policy.4

 

National Ozone Units/Environmental Ministries

The National Ozone Units (NOUs) are national focal points for the implementation of the Montreal 

Protocol, and are key to any decisions and actions related to the implementation of the phase-out plans 

for HCFCs in their countries. NOUs are often subordinated departments in environmental ministries.5

 

The respective departments in environmental ministries decide upon the acceptance of the HCFC 

phase-out management plans or any other environmental policies which may affect the application of 

HCs. 

3 Amongst others, two projects to introduce HC refrigerants are funded since 2008, one with an air-conditioner manufacturing 

company in China and the second with a manufacturer of commercial refrigeration equipment in Swaziland. GTZ is implementing 

these projects on behalf of the Ministry and advising the corporations on technical issues related to the factory conversion and 

safety issues. More details about these projects are available on the internet site of the International Climate Initiative www.

bmu-klimaschutzinitiative.de/en/home, or from GTZ, www.gtz.de/proklima.

4 One example is a project funded by the German Environment Ministry in China and implemented from 2008 to 2010. The purpose of 

this project was to assist China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection in developing a climate-compatible policy for the refrigeration and foam sector and to formulate appropriate standards and regulatory provisions to support the use of natural refrigerants. 

More information about this project is available at http://www.bmu-klimaschutzinitiative.de/en/projects?p=1&d=212. 

5 Contact details are available at www.unep.fr/ozonaction/information/contacts.htm
42

The preparation of the national HCFC phase-out management plans may involve the following activities 

which will then be coordinated by the national environmental ministry and the NOU, for example:

• Organisation of consultation meetings for stakeholders (establishment of regular meetings with 

government agencies for policy review and meetings with industry representatives for sector-level 

approaches)

• Setting-up information dissemination tools for industry interaction and organising sector-level workshops

• Drafting of plans based on input by stakeholders and data collected in all relevant sectors

Industry representatives can address the NOU for information about ongoing developments under the 

HCFC phase-out; how different sectors will be affected by the commitments taken on the international 

level; how to receive support for introducing alternative technologies and which cooperation partners are 

available internationally and/or nationally. Additionally, the NOU is able to provide guidance and 

information on the current status of national legislation/standards for the introduction of HC refrigerants. 

Health and safety departments6

 

National institutions for occupational health and safety often provide data sources on workplace health 

and safety. These departments develop standards and legislation for the protection of people in contact 

with dangerous substances. Since dealing with HC refrigerants is subject to safety and health provisions, 

certain requirements for workplace design and precautionary measures and in some cases documents 

may be issued by health and safety departments. National fire protection institutes provide guidance on 

safety measures in buildings.

1.4.6 Standardisation bodies

Standards are developed on a national, European and international level, amongst a variety of different 

organisations. An overview of these organisations (with some randomly selected national organisations 

for illustrative purposes) is shown in Figure 6. 

There are a large number of international standardisation organisations, but the main two that are 

directly involved with standardisation for refrigeration system safety is International Standardisation 

Organisation (ISO) and International Electro-technical Commission (IEC). Both of these bodies are 

essentially independent of governments, industry associations and private enterprises. Similarly, they are 

also independent of each other. However, there is now a formal agreement between the two organisations 

to collaborate and compliments each others’ standards. This also helps prevent overlap, contradiction 

and repetition of development work and requirements within the standards.

At a European level, there are also two main bodies that are involved with standards for refrigeration 

safety, Comité Européen de Normalisation (CEN) and Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique (CENELEC). Again, these are also independent of governments, European institution such as the 

Commission and European Parliament, and are also independent of each other. However, as with ISO 

and IEC, there is also a formal agreement of cooperation between the two bodies. Similarly, there is also 

a legal responsibility of both CEN and CENELEC to develop “harmonised” standards in response to 

the publication of European directives; this enables the essential requirements of EU directives to be met 

by confirming with harmonised standards. 

6 An example is the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which provides extensive information on safety matters, including 

flammable gases (www.hse.gov.uk)
43

At a country level, most countries have national standardisation bodes, and some have more than one.7 

National standardisation bodies either produce their own standards or review and adopt international 

(and if within Europe, European) standards. In addition, certain countries have trade associations or 

technical institutes that produce their own (internal) standards, which may be adopted as national 

standards. Some national standards bodies are independent, whilst some are directly or indirectly linked 

to government. 

Figure 6: Overview of links between international, European and national standardisation organisations 

(national bodies are shown as examples)

Generally, countries that have membership to ISO or IEC may adopt an ISO or IEC standard as a 

national standard, which may be a direct copy, or with modifications to suit the national situation. 

National standardisation bodies within Europe that are members of CEN and/or CENELEC (this 

applies at least to all EU members states) have an obligation to adopt their standards. Normally the 

same national body liaises with both ISO and IEC (and CEN and CENELEC if within Europe), 

whereas in certain countries there may be separate national bodes dealing with ISO (and CEN) and 

IEC (and CENELEC) If the country has a conflicting national standard, this must be withdrawn. 

Sometimes, CEN adopts ISO standards and vice-versa, and similarly, CENELEC may adopt IEC 

standards and vice versa.

7 The contact details for virtually every national standardisation body may be found may be found in at least one of the following: 

www.iso.org/iso/about/iso_members.htm; www.iec.ch/dyn/www/f?p=102:5:0; www.cen.eu/cen/Members/Pages/default.aspx; 

 www.cenelec.eu/Cenelec/About+CENELEC/Our+organization/CENELEC+Members/Default.htm 
44

1.4.7 Accreditation bodies

Accreditation bodies are used for ensuring that the application of national or internationally agreed 

standards by organisations that provide certification, testing, inspection and calibration services are 

correctly achieved.8

1.5 FRAMEWORK OF REGULATIONS AND STANDARDS

1.5.1 Introduction

The rules that impact on the safe application of HC refrigerants may be categorised into regulations, 

standards and industry guidelines. Each of these serve a particular purpose, and it is important to 

understand what these are and how to identify the appropriate documentation to use for a particular 

situation. There are a extensive number of regulations, standards and industry guidelines that directly or 

indirectly impact on the use of HC refrigerants, at the following stages

• Design of systems and equipment

• Manufacture of components, systems and equipment

• Installation and positioning of systems and equipment 

• Service, maintenance and dismantling of systems and equipment

The different types of rules have varying priority, and the hierarchy of regulation, standards and guidelines is shown in Figure 1. Generally, national regulations have overall priority and their requirements 

are legally binding. National and to a lesser extent, international standards, are a technical interpretation 

of what is considered to be “safe”, and lastly, industry guidelines tend to be non-binding and informative 

only.

Figure 7: Hierarchy of regulations, standards and guidelines

This section will provide an overview of regulations and industry guidelines, but will focus on the 

concept of standards and where and how they should be applied.

8 A listing of most accreditation bodies can be found at the internet site of the International Accreditation Forum (www.iaf.nu), 

at http://www.compad.com.au/cms/iaf/public/5
45

1.5.2 National health and safety rules

In most countries, there are other important national rules which have to be considered. Typically, this 

includes generic legislation (as one or several acts) relating to industrial safety and health of workers. 

Such rules will specify among other things, the provision and use of work equipment by employees at 

work, whilst the obligation for the requirements are directed to employers. Such rules are considered the 

central document to use when assessing the hazard potential of work equipment. Often, the authorities 

will produce regulations, standards or codes to help facilitate the practical application of the laws in 

companies. To support the general health and safety legislation, there will normally be complimentary 

rules that apply to the inspection of work equipment and installations subject to monitoring by an 

approved body or authorised “competent person”. 

1.5.3 Regulations

National regulations are normally the overriding rules that apply, but have a tendency to simply state 

“it must be safe”, rather than actually describing what “safe” is. Regulations are typically specific to 

individual countries (except in some cases within the European Union where certain regulations apply 

throughout member states). Because regulations are generally country-specific, it is not practical to 

provide a detailed overview of their requirements. However, since there are very few, if any, regulations 

that deals specifically with the safety of HC refrigerants, providing descriptions of them serves little 

purpose. Normally, a number of different types of regulations should be applied to the context of the 

use of flammable refrigerants within refrigeration system. Such regulations include the following:

• Machinery safety

• Pressure vessel and pressure system safety

• Electrical safety

• Flammability of gases and liquids

• Hazardous area safety9

 

• Waste substances and waste equipment 

• Building construction safety

Thus, normally within a country, the consideration of such regulations will provide an indication of how 

flammable refrigerants should be handled and any special aspects to address.

1.5.4 Standards

A standard is principally an agreed, repeatable way of doing something. It is a published document that 

contains a technical specification or other precise criteria designed to be used consistently as a rule, 

guideline, or definition. Standards are developed by committees comprising interested parties such as the 

producers, sellers, buyers, users and regulators of a particular product, process or service. The developed 

standards are designed for voluntary use and do not impose any regulations. However, laws and regulations may refer to certain standards and make compliance with them compulsory. 

Although standards are designed for voluntary use and do not impose any regulations, by law many 

governments, industry bodies and trade associations require products, services, etc, to conform to a 

standard or a regulation before they can be offered for sale, or placed on the market. This is to ensure 

that countries and companies can compete on equal terms, that a certain quality is attained, and to 

ensure that a certain level of safety has been achieved.

9 Reference is made to the two so-called “ATEX” European directives: the ATEX 95 equipment directive 94/9/EC, “Equipment and 

protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres”, and the ATEX 137 workplace directive 99/92/EC, 

“Minimum requirements for improving the safety and health protection of workers potentially at risk from explosive atmospheres”; these help provide a broadly logical approach to handling flammable substances for any situation. 
46

Safety standards approach

There are a variety of different safety standards, covering an extensive range of materials, products, 

processes and services. For components and assemblies typical of those used for RAC situations, there is 

a fairly common approach, as detailed in Figure 8. 

Firstly, the thing that is under consideration is defined, and then risks and hazards associated with it are 

identified. One or more design options may be offered so that the risks and hazards would be reduced to 

an acceptable level. However, the validity of the chosen approach must then be demonstrated somehow, 

and this may be through inspections, certification and/or testing. Depending upon whether the criteria 

is met or not, alternative approaches may need to be considered and implemented. Lastly, there is 

normally a requirement to make a provision of information, which may include marking, instructions 

and/or other documentation.

Figure 8: Typical approach for safety standard

Within the context of a refrigeration system, there is a large number of related standards. Figure 9 

provides a map of the different aspects related to refrigeration systems and the safety-related issues that 

are normally addressed within standards. The map in Figure 9 identifies six main categories:

• The entire environment within which the system operates

• The entire refrigeration system

• The components that comprise the system

• Instrumentation and controls associated with the system

• Fluids used within the system

• Associated equipment used with the system, e.g., during servicing

For all of these categories and the elements within them, there are a series of considerations that may be 

applied in order to evaluate the level of safety. For the components, instruments, controls and associated 

equipment, as well as the entire system, aspects such as strength, tightness and electrical safety should be 

evaluated. For the fluids, toxicity, flammability and fate of released fluids should be addressed. In 

addition, personnel need their competence ensured and the surroundings need to be considered with 

respect to various form of interaction with the system and its parts. 

For a large proportion of these categories and elements, safety standards exists that describe the safety 

considerations for each and the types of testing and evaluation required to meet the desired level of 

safety. Amongst these standards are included:
47

• General standards, which are conceptual or that cover components, etc, for a wide range of applications (not just for RAC)

• Standards that deal specifically for with RAC applications, but are not refrigerant-related

• Standards that address RAC components, systems and equipment, but which specifically account for 

refrigerants including HC refrigerants

It is the latter type of standard that will be addressed further.

Figure 9: Aspects of a refrigeration system implicated by safety standards
48

Safety standards concerning HC refrigerants

There are several European and international standards that address RAC equipment, and which 

specifically include requirements for HC refrigerants. Typically, these standards are applicable to entire 

assemblies and components, rather than individual elements in isolation. These key European and 

international standards are shown in Figure 10, along with the technical committee that is responsible.

Figure 10: Key international and European standards that address HC refrigerants, associated committees 

and inter-linkages

At international level, there are currently four standards, one from ISO and three from IEC. The ISO 

standard, ISO 5149 is a general standard that in theory applies to any RAC system. The three IEC 

standards, IEC 60335-2-24, IEC 60335-2-40, and IEC 60335-2-89, apply to domestic refrigeration, 

air-conditioners and heat pumps, and commercial refrigeration, respectively. Similarly, at a European 

level there are also currently four standards: a CEN standard, EN 378 which is a general standard that 

in theory applies to any RAC system, and for three CENELEC standards, EN 60335-2-24, EN 60335-

2-40, and EN 60335-2-89. A summary of their scope is included in Table 3. 

Some important remarks can be made in relation to these standards:

• ISO 5149: the current version of this standard is from 1993, and it is somewhat out of date, and does 

not include any useful requirements with regards to the use of HC refrigerants. Since before 1998 it 

has been under revision, and the current version (DIS ISO 5149: 2009) is based on the published 

version of EN 378. However, significant modifications are proceeding, and as a result the final requirements may be considerably different from the current draft.

• IEC 60335-2-24, IEC 60335-2-40, IEC 60335-2-89: these “appliance” standards are part of a group of 

over 100 other parts that cover a wide variety of other (non-RAC) appliances and equipment. They are 

all based on a common standard, IEC 60335-1, which is for general safety requirements for household 

and similar electrical appliances. This provides the basis for the other standards, which in turn list a 

series of additions and modifications necessary to make the particular part applicable to the appliance 

under consideration.
49

• EN 378: The current version is 2008 and its requirements cover the use of HC refrigerants for a range 

of applications. 

• EN 60335-2-24, EN 60335-2-40, EN 60335-2-89: these are virtually the same as the IEC versions, 

except for certain modifications for conforming to the European situation. 

The main requirements of these standards are used for a large portion of the guidelines within this 

handbook. However, it should be recognised that this material is not a substitute for conforming to 

relevant standards (and regulations). It is also noted that some elements of the safety standards are not 

ideal and may in fact sometimes be inappropriate (if this is the case, a thorough justification should be 

provided for how an equivalent level of safety is being achieved through alternative measures). Furthermore, standards are continually updated, revised and amended, so the contents of this section/manual is 

not a substitute for the standard itself However, in order to conform to a safety standard, the safety 

standard should be used – this is only guidance. Nevertheless, in absence of requirements within a 

national standard, these could be used in addition.

Standard Title Application HC charge size limits

IEC and EN

60335-2-24

Particular requirements 

for refrigerating appliances, 

ice-cream appliances and 

ice-makers 

Domestic refrigeration Up to 150 g

IEC and EN

60335-2-40

Particular requirements for 

electrical heat pumps airconditioners, and dehumidifiers

Any air conditioning and heat 

pump appliances

Up to ~ 1kg and ~ 5 kg, 

depending upon application

IEC and EN

60335-2-89

Particular requirements for 

commercial refrigerating 

appliances with an incorporated 

or remote refrigerant condensing 

unit or compressor

Any refrigeration appliances 

used for commercial 

situations

Up to 150 g

EN 378 Refrigeration systems and 

heat pumps –safety and 

environmental requirements

All refrigeration, air 

conditioning and heat 

pumps; domestic, 

commercial, industrial

Variable, depending upon 

application

ISO (DIS) 5149 Mechanical refrigerating 

systems used for cooling and 

heating – safety requirements

All refrigeration, air 

conditioning and heat 

pumps; domestic, commercial, industrial

Variable, depending upon 

application

Table 3: Summary of the relevant safety standards
50

Electrical standards

There are many national and regional electrical standards applicable globally. The main European 

standard is EN 50110: 2004 “Operation of electrical installations” (including National Annexes). The 

standard consists of two parts. The first part, EN 50110-1 contains minimum requirements applicable 

for all CENELEC member countries and some additional informative annexes dealing with safe working. The second part, EN 50110-2 consists of a set of normative annexes which specify either the present 

safety requirements or give the national supplements to these minimum requirements at the time when 

this standard was prepared. In addition to this, there are also a variety of electrical standards specific to 

electrical appliances and other equipment. The generic standard for appliances is EN / IEC 60335-1.

Hazardous area standards

There are a large number of standards that are applicable to “hazardous atmospheres”, which typically 

apply to situations where flammable gases (or dusts) may be present. Most of these standards have been 

developed for situations where large quantities of flammable substances are present, such as oil rigs, 

refineries and other petro-chemical facilities. Nevertheless, the same principles apply where flammable 

refrigerants are used, and therefore such standards are also of interest. Further, within Europe and 

certain other countries, legislation on hazardous atmospheres generally invokes certain assessment 

methodologies described in hazardous atmosphere standards, and therefore should be given some 

consideration. In fact, these standards are also applicable in other aspects of the equipment lifetime, such 

as during testing, manufacture and disposal. However, it is also noted that these standards are often 

unlike standards used within the RAC industry and can seem onerous, so they must be read and applied 

with careful consideration. 

DEVELOPING A STANDARD

It may be useful for an A5 country to develop its own version of a standard. When doing 

this, in one respect it is advisable to follow an equivalent international standard, or a 

widely acknowledged national or regional (e.g., European) standard. On the other hand, such 

standards are often overly complex and riddled with restrictive requirements as a result of 

commercial interests during the standards development process. Therefore, it is advised that 

an as simplistic approach as possible is developed, whilst ensuring a good level of safety 

but not prohibiting technology, but also ensuring that it is sufficiently comprehensible for 

most technicians and engineers to easily follow. 

The standards development process differs amongst countries, and according to the type of 

standard. The following process illustrates the process carried out within one Asian country 

to develop a national standard for HC appliances.

Checks should be introduce in various points to ensure that the process is not being used to 

prohibit, rather than to produce a robust and safe standard
51

1.5.5 Other publications

Other publications, including codes of practice guidelines are also useful sources of information. These 

may be produced by industry or trade associations, technical institutes, development agencies, and so on. 

These tend to be specific to certain countries and/or specific to certain applications to equipment. In this 

respect they may be useful. However, they rarely tend to carry any level of authority and are tended to be 

used as guidance for understanding and interpreting regulations and standards. A list of selected publications which may be of use is provided within the bibliography. Lastly, there are a variety of technical and 

scientific publications that are directly applicable to many types of systems and equipment using flammable refrigerants, and these can be also be particularly useful when situations are being investigated in 

depth.
52

2.1 INTRODUCTION

2.1.1 General overview

The concept of quality as we think of it now first emerged out of the Industrial Revolution. From here 

on, quality systems were established in companies for good quality of production and rectifying of 

errors. As mentioned previously, to ensure a high level of safety for a product and/or service not only 

requires conforming to a set of rules.

The International Organisation of Standardisation’s ISO 9001: 2008 series describes standards for a 

quality management system (QMS) addressing the principles and processes surrounding the design, 

development and delivery of a general product or service. Organisations can participate in a continuing 

certification process to ISO 9001: 2000 to demonstrate their compliance with the standard, which 

includes requirements for continual improvement of the quality system. Also manufacturers must 

establish and follow quality systems to help that their products consistently meet applicable requirements 

and specifications.

The essential elements that a quality system shall embody for design, production and distribution 

include:

• Personnel training

• Controlling the product design

• Controlling documentation

• Controlling purchasing

• Product identification and traceability at all stages of production

• Controlling and defining production and process

• Defining and controlling inspection, measuring and test equipment

• Validating processes

• Product acceptance

• Controlling non-conforming products

• Instituting corrective and preventive action when errors occur

• Labelling and packing

• Controls

• Records

• Servicing

• Statistical techniques

This type of approach is common for a variety of reasons; in addition to safety, it may also be needed for 

product reliability, maintaining efficiency, continued development and improvement, customer satisfaction, environmental impact, and so on. Whilst the concept described here is generally applicable, the 

focus is on handling of HC refrigerants.

PART 2: QUALITY SYSTEMS FOR SAFETY
53

Figure 11 illustrates an overall generic approach of the quality system for safety. The approach is centred 

on the activities under consideration. This may range from a small company that only designs one 

specific component or self-employed technician carrying out service work, up to a large manufacturer of 

components and factory-assembled appliances or a contractor carrying out design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of very large refrigeration systems. Thus the activity under question may be 

singular and fairly isolated, or it may include a number of interconnected activities. However, for a 

project that involves several organisations, the system should be set up to handle the entire set of activities in an interconnected manner. Similar, for a given product or appliance, such a system should encompass what happens to it for the duration of its lifetime, far beyond the point of leaving the factory. Of 

course, all of the components that are indicated in Figure 11 may not be directly applicable to all 

conceivable activities, and conversely, there could be other peripheral processes that should be adopted 

that are not shown. 

In general, a given activity requires a supply, for example, raw materials, components, external services, 

supporting equipment, designs, etc. These inputs are then utilised to carry out the activity. During or 

after the activity, various forms of routine testing may be carried out to check that the output is as 

intended, for example, the system is leak tight, all the sources of ignition are sealed, checking against 

safety specifications, etc. However, in order to get a deeper insight into how reliable the activity is, a 

selected number of items or services may be subjected to more rigorous evaluations, or type-testing. This 

is sometimes carried out by independent laboratories, or independently witnessed. The results of the 

routine tests and/or the type testing are checked against a set of criteria. If the test regime indicates a 

negative result then corrective action must be taken (since it may indicate that the product, installation 

or service does not meet the desired safety requirements). This may include improving the supply of the 

input material or services, optimising the activities carried out, but also checking that the testing is being 

done correctly. Sometimes, a third-party may be engaged at this stage to double-check for errors, or to 

provide additional expertise. If the test result criteria are met, then the output is considered to be positive. In this case, the necessary documentation can be prepared, for example, test reports, commissioning 

sheets, etc. Finally, the relevant literature is presented (where relevant) and finally some form of approval 

can be supplied, certification and/or quality marking if required. The latter may range from a simple 

process, such as a facilities manager signing off a technician’s work, to getting official certification from a 

notified body for completion of a large refrigeration facility or a specific appliance to be sold within a 

particular region.

In order to ensure that each of the internal processes is being carried out according to the best practice, a 

scheme of inspections should be set up. For instance, with the activity inputs the purchase of materials, 

parts or services should be observed and checked to ensure that their specifications meet what is needed 

by the main activity, that the quantity of the supply is consistent, etc. Similarly, the inspections should 

also observe how the prescribed working procedures are being carried out for the activity under consideration, and that both the routine testing and type testing are also following the established protocols. 

Further, the actual scheme that has been set up to carry out the various inspections may also be subject 

to inspections and checks itself so that global errors can be identified. Whilst the process inspections 
54

may be carried out internally, the overall inspection is often conducted by a third party to ensure that 

critical issues are not being overlooked.

In order to ensure that each of the internal processes is being carried out according to the best practice, a 

scheme of inspections should be set up. For instance, with the activity inputs the purchase of materials, 

parts or services should be observed and checked to ensure that their specifications meet what is needed 

by the main activity, that the quantity of the supply is consistent, etc. Similarly, the inspections should 

also observe how the prescribed working procedures are being carried out for the activity under consideration, and that both the routine testing and type testing are also following the established protocols. 

Further, the actual scheme that has been set up to carry out the various inspections may also be subject 

to inspections and checks itself so that global errors can be identified. Whilst the process inspections 

may be carried out internally, the overall inspection is often conducted by a third party to ensure that 

critical issues are not being overlooked.

To build up a picture of the activity as a whole, a scheme for monitoring should be established. This acts 

as a database for recording the reliability (or unreliability) of all the processes, and therefore enables the 

organisation to identify where problems have originated, or to highlight trends that could eventually lead 

to a significant hazard. In particular, the monitoring should be extended throughout the lifetime of the 

equipment or product, since feedback on longer-term problems enables the relevant parts of the activity to 

be optimised to attain better reliability for future products. For example, it may help to identify a particular 

valve that frequently leaks after one year of use, or a particular technician that fails to replace proper 

electrical parts, and so on. Again, the involvement of a third-party can also add value at this stage to assist 

with providing independent interpretations to the observations, and to feed in experience from other sources.

Figure 11: Overview of a general quality system to address safety matters
55

2.1.2 Quality control systems

Quality control (QC) is a procedure or set of procedures intended to ensure that a manufactured or 

installed product, service or some other process adheres to a defined set of quality criteria or meets 

certain requirements. It may encompass safety testing, third party inspections and quality marking. 

Advantages of QC are typically improved reliability, maintainability and safety. In fact, it is necessary to 

have a QC system for good and safe quality in design, development, production, construction, installation operation and during a servicing. The process uses resources to transform requirements (inputs) into 

characteristics or specifications (outputs) for the refrigeration systems. Refrigeration systems and their 

components will be thoroughly inspected and tested ensuring conformance to engineering specifications 

such as pressure equipment rules in certain countries. A certified quality management system is mandatory when organisations are dealing with products with strong health and safety requirements. For 

example, in Europe, the establishment and certification of QM systems is a condition for achieving CE10 

marking of equipment and components. One of the most widely known quality control systems is ISO 

9001. Alternatively, the QM system may be developed internally or selected specifically to suit the nature 

of the business. 

There is also external QC which checks the products and services at necessary intervals throughout a 

year, often without prior notice. In the case of products, items may be taken from the storage place to 

check them in an external laboratory and similarly all documentation associated with the product and 

that related to the internal quality control may be checked as well. In the case of some service, this may 

be observed (maybe on a random basis) directly as it is being carried out, and possibly an inspection of 

the work following completion. 

In order to implement an effective QC programme, the organisation must first decide which specific 

standards, guidelines or some other set of rules that the product or service must meet. Then the extent of 

QC actions must be determined (for example, the percentage of units to be tested from each lot). Next, 

real-world data must be collected (for example, the percentage of units that fail) and the results reported 

to management personnel. After this, corrective action must be decided upon and taken (for example, 

defective units must be repaired or rejected and poor service resolved at no charge until the manufacturer is satisfied). If too many units failure or too many instances of poor service occur, a plan must be 

devised to improve the production or service process and then that plan must be put into action. Finally, 

the QC process must be ongoing to ensure that remedial efforts, if required, have produced satisfactory 

results and to immediately detect recurrences or new instances of trouble.

10 Communautés Européennes; CE-certified means that the CE marking is a mandatory conformity mark on many products placed on 

the single market in the European Economic Area (EEA)

WORKING WITH A THIRD PARTY

Many manufacturers work together with third parties. An inspection contract will be agreed 

between such an institution and the manufacturer which is the basis for the inspections 

during the year and which is a confirmation for the customer that the products / equipment 

respect all relevant norms and standards. Third parties offer an integrated service to help 

local and regional manufacturers solve production problems, carry out failure analysis, 

support quality control or development testing, improving productivity and product quality and 

safety to provide a greater competitive advantage. Many notified bodies operate worldwide in 

compliance with local and international laws, regulations and the required safety standards 

from other countries.
56

If a company decides to implement a QC programme, they would need to consider certain aspects to 

ensure its success. There are three steps to be followed in order:

• Step 1 – establish management support

• Step 2 – measure the process

• Step 3 – deal with activity

These steps are a useful guideline with respect to the manufacturer, installing or servicing of refrigeration systems.

The latest edition of ISO 9001 (2008) specifies requirements for a QM system where an organisation 

must demonstrate its ability to consistently provide a product that meets customer demands and 

applicable regulatory requirements. All requirements of this standard are generic and are intended to 

be applicable to all organisations, regardless of type, size and product provided. Where any requirements 

of this standard cannot be applied due to the nature of an organisation and its product, this can be 

considered for exclusion.

Ultimately, the entire QC system is controlled through interaction with industrial partners, and normally there is no direct governmental involvement. 

CALIBRATION LABORATORIES

Services provided by third-party test and calibration laboratories must be of a high level of 

quality, of recognised competence and independence. These laboratories must adhere to the 

international standard ISO/IEC 17025, and must also conform to a mutual recognition and 

acceptance of test and calibration results by different companies and countries. This applies, 

in particular, to laboratories accredited by organisations that are parties to mutual recognition 

agreements. The quality system of the laboratories satisfies the requirements set forth in 

ISO/IEC 17025, ISO/IEC Guide 2 and ISO 9001. Compliance with quality-system procedures and 

processes, with which all laboratory staff conducting tests and calibrations must familiarise 

themselves, ensures that the high quality of testing and calibration activities is continuously 

maintained and improved. All customers can use the services of the laboratories without discrimination in terms of their accreditations/approvals, competencies and capacities. The figure below 

shows the organisational structure of the member companies and their affiliated laboratories. 
57

2.2 FEED-IN ELEMENTS (INPUTS)

In order to carry out some form of activity, certain elements will be sourced to contribute towards 

carrying out the activity. This may include, for example:

• Rules and regulations; for correct preparation and execution of activities

• External consultant advice; for checking or guiding an activity raw materials; for the construction of 

components

• Components; for making up parts of a system 

• Parts of assemblies; for connecting to a larger construction

• Tools and equipment; for assembling, installing or working on systems

• Technical literature; for assisting with design work and calculations

• Procedures; for implementing components or carrying out critical actions

Whatever the element under consideration, it is appropriate to clearly identify all of the input streams 

and also to designate responsibility to specific individuals. Ultimately, taking this type of approach 

assists with maintaining a good level of quality for the input streams, which translate to a better level of 

safety, but also to help to trace and resolve problems that may manifest at a later stage. 

In general, ensure that all the input streams are systematically identified and documented. For each, 

specifications or some other performance criteria must be set up, along with mechanisms, such as audit 

schemes, to check whether criteria are met and if not, how to handle such problems or errors. 

Frequently review requirements related to each of the input streams, in case the needs of the activity have 

changed or in case there are modifications to the activity. This may include checks to purchasing 

procedures, introducing the necessity for suppliers to have certified quality systems or being audited by 

the organisation, introducing checking procedures for critical actions, or alternative means of assessing 

incoming documentation.

Lastly, for any input streams, there should be scheme put in place to ensure their traceability, for example covering its history, application, and forwarding location. The traceability should provide complete 

information about every step that that each input goes through in latter stages. 

EN 13980

Enterprises, regulatory authorities or other organisations may find the material within the 

European Standard, EN 13980 – “Potentially explosive atmospheres. Application of quality 

systems” useful when considering the application of flammable refrigerants. This standard 

contains requirements and information for establishing and maintaining quality systems 

related to equipment or workers that may come into contact with flammable atmospheres. 

It can be used to guide enterprises and authorities in developing and checking the quality 

systems put in place. It is complementary to the other quality system standards, such as 

ISO 9000 and ISO 9001 and addresses the general issues of quality management systems, 

management responsibilities, resource management, product realisation and measurement, 

analysis and improvement, all specifically applicable to products and environments that 

involve flammable materials.
58

2.3 TESTING

Testing covers a wide range of disciplines, and may include testing of:

• Designs, developmental concepts, methodologies, etc

• Manufacturing or production equipment, processes or emergency systems, etc

• Materials, components, appliances, sub- or entire assemblies or installations, etc

• Maintenance procedures, completed repairs, etc

The common standard applicable to most cases is EN 378 “Refrigerating systems and heat pumps. 

Safety and environmental requirements. Design, construction, testing, marking and documentation”.

The test itself may be physical testing in the case of components or equipment, or in fact it may be 

conceptual or paper-based testing in the case of procedures or operations. In all cases, it is essential to 

clearly identify what is to be tested, the method of test and the criteria for passing (or failing) the test. 

Any test requirements must be systematically documented and carried out precisely based on the documentation, that is a formal test plan is always needed.

Figure 12 indicates common types of tests and locations. In this respect, there may be three types: those 

that are carried out internally within the organisation, those that are carried out at some location, but are 

witnessed by interested parties, or those that are carried out external to the organisation. The external 

tests may be second-party tests (that is, by a separate organisation with some interest, such as a customer) 

or third-party tests (that is, but a completely independent and normally contracted organisation). 

The most frequently used tests or routine tests, normally carried out by the organisation as part of a 

production, installation or servicing process. Whilst this is usually carried out by the organisation 

internally, it is sometimes witnessed to ensure that the practice has not deviated from the intended. For 

example, this may be leak testing, pressure testing, and functional safety testing, and so on. Type-testing 

is also a commonly carried out internally, but may also be witnessed or done externally. This is often a 

more rigorous test that is applied to something that this normally tested routinely, in order to check that 

an assumed higher level of safety is still inherent in the design or process. Examples include high pressure destructive testing or observing the behaviour of an item within a fire situation. Lastly, where some 

unusual issue has to be addressed and no specific test procedures exist within standards or other guidelines which must otherwise be followed; novel test methods need be devised. Example of this may arise 

during the development of a new type of safety device or where a hitherto unanticipated set of circumstances has arisen. In case of non-standardised methods procedures shall be appropriate and fully 

documented. Instructions, standards, written procedures, work sheets, check lists and reference data 

shall be maintained up-to date and readily available.

Component testing is important, but also the test of the complete system/appliance. For the safe service 

of appliances it is not only important that the components fulfil the safety standards. Infrastructure for 

testing of products (components) is an integral part of any refrigeration product and service. Infrastructure is based upon numerous structural elements like machinery, workforce, quality managers/inspectors, technical engineers, and others. 
59

Figure 12: Common types and locations of testing

Whenever a test regime is put in place, it must be comprehensively documented. This should include:

• Instructions for planning tests

• Relevant standards

• Sampling scheme

• Location of tests

• Set up of test facilities

• Operating procedures 

• Approved personnel

• Presence of witnesses, if applicable

• Data-acquisition and data storage

• Technique(s) for analysis of results

• Reporting format

• Distribution channels for test report

An important point concerning safety testing is the competence of the person carrying out the inspection of the system. The system operators must satisfy themselves that the technicians designing or 

working on the system meet the necessary levels of competence applicable for the work activities under 

consideration.

The most common tests for RAC systems and equipment include routine tests on components and 

assemblies, typically:

• Strength (pressure) test for components and assemblies

• Tightness (leakage) test for components and assemblies

• Vacuum test for components and assemblies

• Functional tests on assemblies, for example, for pressure protection of function of emergency 

ventilation systems

• Leak simulation tests on assemblies to identify accumulation of refrigeration
60

Proper descriptions of these are generally found in the relevant safety standards that cover RAC components, systems and associated equipment. 

2.4 INSPECTIONS

2.4.1 Introduction

Inspection refers to a physical process of observations and recording the state of a particular product, 

assembly, installation, service activity or some other process. Inspections may apply to nearly any activity 

or item, such as:

• Design department procedures

• Specific design concepts

• Working or evaluation methodologies

• Manufacturing, storage or workshop facilities

• Components, appliances, completed assemblies or installations 

• Installation or other site working processes by technicians

• The ability of specific personnel

Again, the standard commonly applied to most cases is EN 378, whilst the standard specific to personnel 

is EN 13313 “Refrigerating systems and heat pumps – Competence of personnel – Complementary element”.

Usually it requires an individual checking something against an existing specification or set of requirements or, on the basis of professional judgement, against general requirements. It may be required for 

conformity to a standard or regulation, to support certification, for internal purposes or for a customer. 

The inspections may be carried out by staff within the organisation, so-called second parties (i.e., 

organisation with a vested interest in the operations, such as a customer), or some third party. Particularly with larger-scale operations, it can be beneficial to ensure that inspections occur from the initialisation of a project to avoid costly problems from the start. If third-party inspections are being used, it is 

important to use certified firms with the training and equipment to ensure a good standard of service, 

CERTIFICATION OF TEST HOUSES

The Standard ISO/IEC 17025: 2005 is the main standard used by testing and calibration 

laboratories. This standard specifies the general requirements for the competence to carry 

out tests and/or calibrations, including sampling. It covers testing and calibration performed 

using standard methods, non-standard methods, and laboratory-developed methods. It is 

applicable to all organisations performing tests and/or calibrations. These include, for example, first-, second- and third party laboratories, and laboratories where testing and/or calibration forms part of inspection and product certification. ISO/IEC 17025 is applicable to all 

laboratories regardless of the number of personnel or the extent of the scope of testing and/

or calibration activities. When a laboratory does not undertake one or more of the activities 

covered by ISO/IEC 17025, such as sampling and the design/development of new methods, 

the requirements of those clauses do not apply. ISO/IEC 17025 is for use by laboratories in 

developing their management system for quality, administrative and technical operations. 

Laboratory customers, regulatory authorities and accreditation bodies may also use it in 

confirming or recognising the competence of laboratories. ISO/IEC 17025 is not intended to be 

used as the basis for certification of laboratories. Compliance with regulatory and safety 

requirements on the operation of laboratories is not covered by ISO/IEC 17025.
61

and support services may range from planning to operation to reporting. Depending upon the application, inspections may be one-off or initial inspections or periodical inspections whose periods may vary 

from a half year to twelve years.

2.4.2 Use of third-parties for inspections

Particularly when new technologies, such as HC refrigerants are adopted, it is useful to employ third 

parties for inspections, which may offer companies a range of relevant services and expertise. Independent inspections of such organisations assist the manufacturer, installer or handler of refrigeration systems 

in assuring a desired level of quality and safety. Thus, the involvement of a third party enables such 

companies to carry out design, testing, production, installation and field work test to do so whilst 

conforming to relevant rules and standards, as well as making sure that they meet the characteristics and 

specifications demanded by the costumer, without being influenced by internal or other commercial 

pressures. Independent guidance may also be provided in terms of selection of materials, refrigerants, 

equipment, meeting deadlines and obtaining transparency for each step with the applicable activity. 

What a company needs to know when it develops a new appliance/model or makes a site-built installation is from country to country different. Every country has different requirements and needs. The 

companies may need to get it approved to check that it follows the appropriate standards and/or regulations properly. Third parties offer their expertise and knowledge of all appliances/units for the RAC 

industry. The inspections include tests when the refrigeration system with HC refrigerant is in use – so 

called monitoring or supervision of start-up. These tests are carried out concerning conformity to rules 

and standards, as well as making sure that the companies meet the characteristics and specifications 

demanded by the customer. According to the national laws in the corresponding country a third party 

involvement may be necessary. The third party will also determine what exactly the producer of a new 

appliance/model needs to prepare according to the national or regional regulations.

Whatever the inspection body is doing, it is important that they follow to ISO/IEC 17020, which is the 

international standard for general criteria for the operation of various types of bodies performing inspections. 

2.4.3 Function of an inspection body

The inspection body is the organisation whose staff are responsible for carrying out the inspection. In 

order to maintain independence, this body must not be the designer, manufacturer, supplier, installer, 

purchaser, owner, user or maintainer of the items which they inspect, nor the authorised representative of 

any of these parties. Similarly, the inspection body and its staff must not engage in any activities that 

may conflict with their independence of judgement and integrity in relation to their inspection activities. 

In particular they cannot become directly involved in the design, manufacture, supply, installation, user 

or maintenance of the items inspected, or similar competitive items.

Normally, any interested parties will have access to the services of an inspection body. The procedures 

under which the body operates must be administered in a non-discriminatory manner, whereby there is a 

clear separation of the responsibilities of the inspection personnel from those of the personnel employed 

in other functions (which are established by organisational identification and the reporting methods of 

the inspection body with the parent organisation). Similarly, the inspection body shall provide safeguards within the organisation to ensure adequate segregation of responsibilities and accountabilities in 

the provision of inspection services by organisation and/or documented procedures. 

Lastly, an inspection body is expected to participate in an exchange of experience with other inspection 

bodies and in the standardisation processes as appropriate. Technical requirements differ from country 

to country, safety philosophy is not the same in all countries and thoroughness of inspection is not 

always the same, so it is important for organisations to employ the appropriate approach for any given 

region.
62

2.4.4 Practical aspects of inspections

In terms of the use of HCs in RAC systems, it is important that an inspection covers checks of all the 

safety-critical aspects to ensure the safe operation of the equipment and protection of the workers. Such 

checks shall be made to ensure that everything complies with the appropriate safety standards and 

regulations. Similarly, it is necessary to check that the correct procedures have been followed, for example, for testing procedures, acceptance procedures, marking, supplying of test certificates, operating 

manuals, plant plans, and availability and location of maintenance records. The inspection of any 

equipment or installation must include the following checks, which must be considered by the competent person:

• Documentation referring to pressure and hazardous area equipment

• Safety devices and equipment

• Record of the tightness, strength and any other relevant tests

• Visual inspection 

• Checking the marking

• Documentation of the components

• Fill in all the legal required documents and certificates

A more comprehensive list of HC-specific checks is listed in later Parts of the handbook.

Some communication measures must also be taken:

• Identification of key personnel and applicable responsibilities

• Arranging appointments with the relevant parties

• Properly inform relevant personnel about the method of operation of the equipment

• Write a report about the condition of components, assemblies or parts of equipment

• Decision-making with regards to repair or replacement of one or more parts

• Discuss and advise the relevant parties about applicable safety issues, maintenance planning and 

environmental issues

• Process any concerns, disagreements and complaints 

• Discuss and advise the relevant parties about the work procedures

• Explain to the relevant parties about the content of any reports

All inspections must be documented, and no systems or equipment can be put into operation unless it is 

documented.
63

2.5 MONITORING

Monitoring is essentially the recording of data from various processes, such as the quality of the input 

streams, test results, information from inspections, observations from the field, external reporting, and 

so on. The accumulated data undergoes continual assessment in order to identify problems, otherwise 

unseen errors, particular trends, etc, which are then used to develop corrective and/or preventative 

measures as appropriate. 

In general, any activity may be monitored, such as the construction, assembly and installation of a 

system, service or maintenance activities and the carrying out of all relevant tests and inspections. An 

organisation may also be carrying out performance, type and safety testing of refrigeration components, 

failure analyses, risk assessment, prototype and product testing (of course, such organisations may also 

offer other non-safety related services).

The type of information that should be integrated into a monitoring system may include that associated 

with personnel, equipment and processes:

• Identification of necessary skills and experience for carrying out given activities

• Collation of personnel involved with a particular activity and their specific roles

• Qualification of those carrying out specific activities, e.g. education, training records, job descriptions, 

skills and experience

• Regular and top-up awareness training 

• Lists of equipment and components supplied, selection criteria and occurrences when purchase requirements were not met

• Receipt of faulty or incorrect components or equipment and subsequent actions

• Working procedures required for a particular activity and when they were (or were not) followed

• Outcome of testing and inspections

• How recommendations and problems were handled

• Documentation of conformance with the relevant criteria 

• Deviation in processes or procedures, reasons and alternative actions

Accordingly, there is a need to develop suitable means to do this, such as standardised reporting sheets, 

electronic data collection, etc. 

In terms of monitoring the reliability of suppliers and their components, if suppliers do not have certified 

components in the programme, it is necessary that the buyer carries out regularly audits with the manufacturer and examines the specifications provided by him. In any kind it is necessary that manufacturers 

agree an approval procedure for the refrigeration components and appliances. Documents should be 

provided together with the required number of sample products for assessment and testing. If required, 

a “worse case” analysis of the product range together with a draft test plan can be prepared. This analysis 

is assessed in a “worst case review”. Where the product is a single product this meeting may simply be a 

document exchange. Where a number of products are derived from a basic design they are assessed to 

identify a worst case version for testing in order to limit the amount of test work to be carried out. A 

documented worst case assessment is produced for the approval body as a record of the agreement. The 

test plan is finalised and testing is carried out on the sample product(s) witnessing the test work as 

necessary.
64

2.6 FEEDBACK AND PREVENTATIVE/CORRECTIVE ACTION

This is the process of transferring findings and other related information from monitoring and analysis 

of that data to the relevant processes. Corrective action is one necessary to eliminate the cause of a 

detected non-conformity or other undesirable situation, whereas preventive action is an action to eliminate the cause of a potential non-conformity. For example, a change in a specification for a valve, an 

improved leak testing method, a better brazing procedure or an improvement in on-site maintenance of 

electrical components. It is also important to consider monitoring and feedback of equipment placed into 

use, usually in terms of safety testing, quality testing for marking/labelling, etc.

Examples of the type of information used for feedback may include a number of different aspects, as 

discussed below, and also the types of corrective actions that may be considered.

(i) Components and sub-assembles that are unreliable, for example, as indicated by:

• Frequent failures during routine or type testing

• Repeated maintenance calls for replacement of parts

• Occurrence of higher leakage rates

• Need for re-calibration of gas detection systems

In these cases, remedial actions may include entering into discussion with the suppliers, checking 

installation and fitting guidelines, sourcing alternative suppliers, or revising purchase specifications. 

(ii) Particular designs that perform inadequately, for example, as indicated by:

• Tendency to fail within a short period of time

• Nuisance tripping of safety devices

• Intermittent releases from pressure relief devices

• Problematic functional testing

In these cases, remedial actions may include revising system designs, checking reliability of electro-mechanical devices, checking component specification to ensure compatibility with adjacent parts, or 

introducing more rigorous test schemes. 

(iii) Technicians that carry out poor quality work, for example, as indicated by

• Reliability of serviced equipment

• Observed quality based on subsequent field inspections

• Frequency repeated service visits to re-repair leaks

• Electrical components left in inappropriate condition

In these cases, remedial actions may include checking the competence of the technicians, providing 

additional training, revision of working instructions or the provision of better quality service tools. 

(iv) Procedures that result in unsatisfactory outputs, for example, as indicated by:

• Inconsistent test results

• Equipment or installations supplied without appropriate marking or manuals

• Repeated calls from recipients regarding basic or routine matters

• Complaints from certain parties regarding the absence of response to safety-critical matters
65

In these cases, remedial actions may include a revision of test procedures, addressing the final product 

checklist procedures, improvements to internal communication channels or the assignment of definite 

responsibilities to particular individuals. Conversely, it is also recommended to record and feedback the 

positive information. This type of feedback is also beneficial since it may contribute to identification of 

further means of improving processes or equipment. 

To ensure that the benefits of the feedback are maximised, distinct communication routes must be 

established. This requires each action or sub-activity to be identified and the data or documentation 

received by the monitoring exercise is channelled back to the relevant departments or personnel that can 

act on that information. Where possible, formalised structures should be developed, where regular 

reviews are set up to analyse the information and decide upon correction or preventative measures as and 

when appropriate. 

2.7 ACCREDITATION AND CERTIFICATION

Accreditation is the procedure by which an authoritative body gives formal recognition that an organisation or person is competent to carry out specific tasks. It is essentially a formal recognition of technical 

competence, as well as compliance to a quality management system. Central to accreditation are two 

features: the principle of external review, with regular external audits carried out by an independent 

body; and to fulfil the requirements of standards, such as ISO 17025 (for general requirements for the 

competence of testing and calibration laboratories). Subsequently, certification is the procedure by which 

a third party gives written assurance that a product, process or service conforms to the specific requirements. 

Accreditation and certification may be applied to anything that has had to meet a specific set of requirements, for example, components, assemblies, installations, procedures or personnel, for example:

• For equipment like components, assemblies and installations, it is normally carried out against requirements of regulations and standards, although it may also be against internal specifications

• For procedures, it may be carried out against the achievement of meeting certain criteria set out in 

standards, regulations or some other adopted guidelines

• For personnel, it may be carried out in a number of ways, such as based on the outcome of a practical 

and/or theory-based assessment, or also according to historical experience and background

Often accreditation and certification requires a third party to carry out verification procedures, where 

confirmation is attained, through the provision of objective evidence, that specified requirements have 

been fulfilled. This verification may be through direct inspections of production processes and testing, 

or through auditing of procedures used for the production processes and tests. In such cases, auditors of 

the accreditation bodies may participate in witness audits on the business premises of the company or its 

subcontractor, if relevant. Additionally, a third party body may carry out tests either in their own test 

laboratory or externally. 

If a product is manufactured at several manufacturing sites with different qualifications (for example, 

servicing components from different locations), the qualification level of the respective manufacturing 

site may only be used if different designations are given to the models. Otherwise only the level of 

qualification which applies to all manufacturing sites may be used for advertising.

Once certification has been provided to an individual or organisation of particular product, holders of 

certification marks must constantly monitor the processes or procedures or individuals that have been 
66

awarded the mark to ensure continued conformance to the requirements. This includes carrying out the 

specified tests and inspections, document any complaints in connection with certified products and the 

correction of non-conformances. Often the certification body must be immediately notified of any 

changes made to the products after certification. If the certificate concerned is to be maintained, the 

certification body may request the manufacturer to prove observance of codes of practice or may require 

an additional test or inspection to be carried out. In order to ensure maintenance of the product characteristics on which a certificate has been based, the certification body may regularly inspect manufacturing and testing facilities as well as quality assurance measures. In these cases, the holder must ensure that 

the certification body can inspect the manufacturing and business premises and warehouses listed on the 

certificate.

Certification is often manifested by means of product marking. If the third-party determines that the 

requirements are being met, then the organisation may apply the applicable marking to the product.11 In 

some cases the manufacturer is allowed to use this mark on their own responsibility. Notified bodies will 

issue approval certificates for each unit and may perform manufacturing and quality system audits to 

verify compliance with all the necessary standard requirements. Then the manufacturer is authorised to 

apply the marking (with the number of the notified body).

The certification process often requires the certification body to evaluate the documents submitted by 

the testers or auditors. Based on this, it decides whether or not a certificate may be issued. If there are 

disagreements concerning certification it can be resolved via established complaints procedures. Generally, certificates, certificates of conformity, test certificates, etc, are based on the version of the relevant 

regulation, directive or standard valid on the date of issue of the certificate. Such certificates do not 

entitle the holder to use a certification mark of the notified body. Any marking that may prove necessary 

falls under the responsibility of the persons indicated in the relevant regulation, directive or standard. 

CE-MARKING IN EUROPE

In Europe, for example, the refrigeration systems and components that are placed on the 

market have to be CE signed by manufacturers. The CE-marking shows that a product has 

met EU consumer safety, health or environmental requirements. A notified body may be 

involved by vessels and tubes in the design phase, the production phase, or both, and the 

CE-marking shall only be followed by the identification number of the notified body †. The 

CE-mark is a visible declaration by the manufacturer (or his representative, importer, etc) 

that the equipment complies with all the requirements of all the applicable directives. This 

mark allows manufacturers and exporters to circulate products freely within the 15 European 

Union (EU) members. Having ensured that the equipment does indeed meet all these requirements (including all the administrative requirements involved in being able to demonstrate 

compliance), the CE-mark may then be affixed and the product released. The letters, “CE”, 

indicate that the manufacturer has undertaken all assessment procedures required for the 

product. The CE-mark is not a quality mark, it indicates conformity to the legal requirements 

of the EU Directives and their nominated standards.

† For example, the reference number 36 (CE-36) for TÜV SÜD

11 If the product is being placed on the European Union market, this marking may be the CE-Mark, whilst in other regions, other 

forms of marking may be applicable.
67

PART 3: TRAINING

3.1 INTRODUCTION TO TRAINING

3.1.1 Significance of training

In general RAC systems, if not properly constructed, installed, operated or maintained, can be a danger 

to the health and safety of persons and detrimental to the environment. Whilst HC refrigerants are very 

good refrigerants, every technical operation requires considerations of workers and users’ safety, including responsible proper disposal of contaminants and waste products. Safety practices and recommendations are provided and detailed explained within this Part, but additionally equipment manufacturers’ 

guidance must be followed. Any person who is involved with working on or breaking into a refrigerant 

circuit should hold a valid certificate from an approved training organisation. This general approach is 

important for the use of HCs but should also cover any refrigerants used.

The number of companies involved in installation, service and maintenance of refrigeration and air 

conditioning system is appreciable. In Article 5 countries most of these companies are small and operated by the company’s owner and may include many technicians without formal training in refrigeration 

and air conditioning. In general these companies and technicians in addition, cannot usually afford to 

investment in training courses and reliable service equipment. Labour costs are much lower compared to 

the costs of equipment. To meet client’s demands, appliances, system equipment and spare parts are in 

many cases provided by local second hand markets. Until recently, in Europe scrapped or discarded 

refrigerated appliances and system components would find its way to A5 countries. Some larger and 

more professional companies and local wholesalers have access to international manufacturer’s equipment. Existing refrigeration systems, appliances and air-conditioners are kept running beyond their 

economic lifetime resulting in increasing demand of servicing, repair and energy consumption. The 

intelligent, proper and safe use of HC refrigerants may facilitate the turnover in RAC technologies to 

environmental savings, energy efficient and affordable standards. However national authorities must 

support related activities so that training and certification is accessible for workers in the field and all 

concerned parties. If training is well implemented it may lead to purposely economical competition on 

high level and with benefits for the country’s infrastructure.

The people that must be trained are those involved in with HC appliances and systems – from their 

conception to destruction – need to develop knowledge and skills to apply best practices including 

strategic risk assessment schemes for system conversion to HC refrigerants. This implies training activities in theory and practical matters. The scope of training is related to the actual work responsibilities of 

employers, constructors, observers, manufacturing lines assemblers, installation companies or workshop 

owners and practical service engineers and technicians. 

3.1.2 Recognising the importance of training

The improvement of knowledge and skills is the practical way to change the existing situation in a better 

way. In some cases where vocational training for RAC exists and is structured, new or advanced technologies should be adopted. Lesson learned from previously conducted activities in Europe demonstrates 

that improved levels of training and work methods generally greatly reduce leakage rates and the number 

of failures in RAC systems. Multilateral Fund (MLF) evaluation of HCFC Phase-out Management Plans 

(HPMPs) notes that the introduction of better practices in RAC servicing has been the most important 

factor in reducing the ODS refrigerant consumption and emission in developing countries. 
68

In general, it can be said that to be well trained is a competitive predicate.

End-users soon will know where to get high quality and system/appliance reliability under reasonable 

conditions. Knowing these facts we realise the situation that training generally is driven by business 

needs. This counts more than ever if environmental challenges and burdens lead the industries to 

change. Rising awareness of these factors is one important driving instrument to get the related industries and companies forced to maintain specific training for involved personnel. 

Below is a selection of some of the business needs possibilities identified:

• Need to meet the countries (and the worlds community) obligation to protect the environment 

• Need to provide a safe working environment and meet commitments to customers and society to 

handle refrigerants with due care to people and equipment

• Need to keep abreast of new technologies, new refrigerants and new legislation that are driving change 

in the sector

• Need to improve RAC systems and appliances overall coefficient of performance (COP)

• Need to improve service levels in order to differentiate company’s services from competitors, raise 

barriers to entry and improve charge out rates and margins

• Need to drive standards within the sector in order to prevent “cowboy technicians”

• Need to widen the employment base by providing alternative routes of entry to the sector for mature 

workers who aren’t prepared to take up an apprenticeship

• Need to reduce the time spent on manufacturing, installation, commissioning, maintenance and repair 

of plants and appliances in order to improve economical efficiencies

• Need to improve maintenance standards in order to reduce the cost of replacement parts and reduce 

the number of call outs on maintenance contracts

• Need to meet increasingly sophisticated requirements from retail, design, construction, manufacturing, installation, service and maintenance

• Need to reduce insurance costs by reducing exposure to liability claims under (a) health and safety 

legislation and (b) environmental legislation (c) product deterioration

• Need to compete with European competition where industry standards are higher and training 

provision is more advanced

Training and networking events should be designed to meet these needs.

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND FURTHER CRAFTS TRAINING IN GERMANY

The skilled crafts sector is number 1 in Germany when it comes to providing training. Its dual 

training system is based on enterprise / VETC level. It combines practical work and learning 

in the enterprise with theoretical education (and practical unifying sessions) in a vocational 

school during training. The training concludes with the skilled worker’s examination after 

about 3 years under authority of the trade unions. Every skilled worker can take further training and sit the master craftsman’s examination. The master craftsman’s examination is the 

top specialist skilled crafts qualification and authorises the person to manage an RAC enterprise and to train apprentices.
69

3.1.3 Approach for training and certification

In general a country’s legislation should prescribe certification at company level and for the active 

engineers and technician. The company needs to have the minimum required appropriate equipment for 

refrigerant handling and the engineers and technicians will have the knowledge and skills. Certificates 

should testify the competences so that equipment users will have the possibility to identify if company 

and personnel can perform the intended job. 

Additional possibilities to support certification of companies and personnel at legislative level for A5 

countries:

a) Only certified personnel may handle refrigerants (ODS, GHGs, HCs) and this may include a ban 

for selling refrigerants to not authorised persons

b) Companies may have a minimum set of tools and equipment for refrigerant handling

c) Only these certified companies should be able to by refrigerants

d) Governmental awareness campaigns promoting these certifications to private and commercial 

end-users and the equipment distribution chain (RAC wholesaler, industries, supermarkets, 

hospitals, governmental buildings operators, etc)

e) Mandatory record keeping for equipment owners on information about refrigerant consumption 

and service needs for RAC equipment containing more than 3 kg of refrigerant

f) Mandatory preventive maintenance and leak detection for RAC equipment containing more than 

3 kg of refrigerant

Training courses in general and for HC technologies should be approved on national level by the responsible authority e.g. the Ministry of Education. Certification should be at the same level equal to new 

technician educated at vocational and educational training centre’s (VETCs) or old technicians receiving 

this advanced HC education in form of evening courses or multiple day release courses. If appropriate, 

the courses can also be held with the same syllabus at training centre from trade organisations. Assessment test conducted to each training session should reflect the learning progress of the participants. 

The authorisation scheme will gain the following benefits:

• Improving the standards of installation, service and maintenance for RAC equipment creating higher 

efficiency and lower energy consumption (emissions)

• The RAC equipment is reliable and its economic live is prolonged

• End-users are more satisfied because of lower costs and no need for additional repairs and/or early 

replacement

• There will be a market for educated technicians applying better service practices

• Receiving a register of competent companies and technicians and sustainable information about the 

consumed refrigerants

When offering training, the importance of manufactures production and engineers/technicians business 

schedules should be recognised and accounted for to avoid disrupting them. This highlights the need to 

have if possible, a range of approved training locations with specific training schedules and a jointly 

agreed and officially approved training programme.
70

3.1.4 Training for field service technicians

The training of service technicians should include both theoretical and practical elements. The theory 

should include (but is not limited to) the knowledge about the HC refrigerant properties, steps to carry 

out an adequate risk assessment and how to design and maintain a sealed RAC system with minimised 

refrigerant charge and high efficiency.

It is essential that all field works are performed securing a high level of overall quality to ensure the 

reliability of the optimised system with a minimum of emission. 

The main focus however should be on the technical skills. The practical objectives should reflect all 

activities of handling the alternative refrigerants in a safe way. Pipework and components installation 

with emphasis on modern brazing and reliable leak detection technologies are from high priority. Training should also comprise learning modules related to electrical components selection, installation and 

professional connection to the RAC system. At best possible the ratio between practical and theoretical 

content and time spend for the training should be split at around 70% practice and 30% theory. 

RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE FIELD OF VOCATIONAL TRAINING IN GERMANY

In Germany, the state’s functions are shared out between the Federal Government and the 16 

counties. Fulfilment of these functions is a matter for the individual counties, provided that 

the basic law does not provide or permit otherwise. The individual counties are also responsible for public-sector schools and education, and hence for vocational schools, the majority of 

which come under the responsibility of the country and a local authority. All legislation on 

schools, including that on vocational schools, is individual country legislation. The Standing 

Conference of Ministers for Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) is an important institution 

working to harmonise education policies in the 16 countries. An overview of the general 

structure of responsibilities in the field of vocational training in Germany is shown in the 

figure below.
71

3.2 TRAINING FACILITIES

3.2.1 Introduction

The training facility should show and demonstrate exactly how to build and provide an effective learning, training and certification environment. If possible the training location should be embedded in 

national local VETCs where other trades like electricians, plumbers and metal workers are based. This 

will create additional synergy effects in fact of trainer’s competence (brazing, welding, electro technique 

etc ) and limits equipment and tools investments to the RAC trade specific scopes. Theoretical classrooms and practical work-sites can be jointly used. In many cases infrastructure as previously explained, 

may already exist at national VETCs for the RAC sector and HCs training will build an upgrade to the 

currently approved syllabus.

If the national training content is once approved, the VETC/college should develop the best training 

programmes possible, following the countries policy and the required technical standards, with respect 

to the available clientele. If necessary these institutions may link with other agencies or among each 

other to exchange knowledge and experience and deliver recommendations for the authorities and 

develop tailored training programmes for companies and personnel that require more than one training 

source or specific training content as per example a company in-house training. 

Possible training facilities are:

• Colleges 

• Vocational educational training centres (VETCs)

• Trade unions training centres (associations)

• Private training schools (companies)

• Manufactures training centres

Finally a RAC technology steering board should exist. Members may come from the previously mentioned facilities. Internal board regulations used to be setup and common exchange of views may 

formulate the country specific needs and focus on trends for the future. 

3.2.2 Ideal set-up of training workshop site

The training site for about 20 participants should be equipped with didactic material in order to emphasis and provide the means for a practical training. Additionally the training field should have access to a 

classroom for theoretical training. A list of work-sections and spaces are provided in Table 4.
72

Table 4: Relevant areas for HC training facilities 

3.2.3 Tools and equipment

The RAC sector deals with design, manufacturing, installation, service and maintenance of appliances 

and systems. The sector maintains technical training and mechanical engineering course work, with 

certifications, associate degrees up to bachelor degrees. They perform their work with a lot of different 

tools, both basic and specific to working with the industries produced equipment. 

Scope Minimum 

required

Ideal

1 Ventilated practical work area with bench and vice for each 

participant, general purpose. Chalkboard or whiteboard, sockets 

✔

2 Brazing installation (propane / oxygen) at every work bench ✔

3 Installation rack for RAC system assembling close to work 

bench

✔

4 Isolated chamber or box in arrangement with 1+3 ✔

5 Domestic refrigeration demonstration units ✔

6 Commercial refrigeration demonstration units ✔

7 Split AC demonstration units ✔

8 Mobile AC demonstration unit ✔

9 Components and material storage ✔

10 Teacher office with furniture ✔

11 Theoretical classroom for about 20 places. Chalkboard or 

whiteboard.

✔

12 Refrigeration laboratory ✔

13 Electro workshop ✔

14 EDP software classroom ✔

15 Welding and metal cutting workshop ✔

16 Toilet F+M ✔

17 Recreation area (partly outside) ✔
73

Basic hand tools

RAC specialists use many basic hand tools in the course of manufacturing, installation, maintenance 

and repair of equipment. They use everyday tools like hammers, pliers and screwdrivers, as well as basic 

hand tools like folding rules, flashlights, telescoping and retractable inspection mirrors, drillers, wrenches and levels. 

Flare nut wrenches and nut drivers

RAC specialists deal with hex head screws and tubing and need the tools to work with them. Nut drivers 

remove and replace hex head screws in metal panels, cabinets and framework, and flare nut wrenches are 

used with metal tubing without breaking it. 

Specialised tools for tubing

RAC equipment is outfitted with tubing that specialists install, maintain, remove, replace, connect and 

disconnect. They use specialised tools such as tube benders and cutters, flaring and swaging tools, 

inner-outer reamers, piercing and pinch-off tools to handle and work with tubing. 

Specialised measurement tools AC clamp-on ammeters

Ammeters, resistance, voltage, temperature and air velocity measuring instruments are used in RAC to 

measure electrical values and air flow. Ammeters and AC clamp-on ammeters measure electrical current 

without interrupting the circuit. Air velocity measuring instruments are available as meters, multifunction instruments and kits to check fans and blowers and measure air pressure. Thermometers (electronic 

and analogue) are used to measure the temperature of any kind of medium (e.g. air, refrigerant, water) 

and contact temperatures of system and appliances spots. All these devices used secure the efficient RAC 

cycle operation. Sound meter provide information about the sound level of an operating RAC system 

and are used to determine if the sound level is at an agreeable level. 

Service and installation equipment

RAC specialists use specialised equipment to install, repair and maintain refrigeration and air conditioning systems. Programmable charging scales help technicians precisely charge refrigerant by the proper 

weight (very important for HC technologies). Refrigerant leak detectors help with fast and accurate leak 

assessment. Electronic thermistor vacuum gages and U-tube mercury manometers display vacuum levels 

while evacuating non-condensable gases (NCGs) and humidity from systems. Vacuum pumps remove 

NCGs, humidity and remaining content of HCs from systems. Hygrometers are used for precise measuring of humidity. The use of oxygen-free and dry nitrogen (OFDN) plays a key role in professional RAC 

exertions practices. Therefore nitrogen storage cylinder and pressure regulators are a “must have” for 

every specialist. 

Refrigerant handling and identifying/analysing equipment 

First of all there is the manifold gauge set equipped with refrigerant transfer hoses and RAC system 

connection adapters. Gauges are used to analyse the RAC systems operational pressure/temperature of 

refrigerant in the different system sections and components. Refrigerant recovery units maintain safe 

refrigerant transfer from RAC systems into refrigerant storage containers without emission of substances 

to the atmosphere. Recycling or reclaim units clean recovered refrigerants up to virgin refrigerant 

product standard. Refrigerant analyser/identifiers allow the identification and classification of refrigerants and determine if the refrigerants are contaminated (mixed) and appropriate for recycling/reclamation and further reuse.

Recommended tools and equipment 

The equipment needed for the RAC training site in general (including HC technologies) is calculated for 

about 20 participants. A list of suggested tooling, and associated descriptions are detailed in Appendix 6.
74

3.2.4 Implications of location situation

The situation and organisation of vocational educational training (VET) varies worldwide from country to 

country, for example, in Figure 13, which illustrates the set-up in Germany. Qualified training is mandatory for a functional economy, but A5 countries may have less capability compared with industrialised 

countries to force the existing structure with emphasis on actual demand and challenges for the future. 

Globalisation of the economy, environmental policies, increasing international competition, changes in 

demographic development and in the labour market are giving rise to a need for new strategies on 

education and training policy. In many countries reforms in the education and training system have 

tended to concentrate on expanding general education and academic pathways while VET often receives 

comparatively little attention in the ongoing process of structural adjustment. Moreover in many countries VET is part of secondary education organised and delivered by colleges or schools, an approach 

which only inadequately prepares graduates to meet the demands of real-world work.

Figure 13: Exemplary diagrammatic representation of the typical structure of the education (including VET) 

system in Germany

reforms in the education and training system have tended to concentrate on expanding 

general education and academic pathways while VET often receives comparatively little 

attention in the ongoing process of structural adjustment. Moreover in many countries 

VET is part of secondary education organised and delivered by colleges or schools, an 

approach which only inadequately prepares graduates to meet the demands of realworld work. 

Figure 13: Exemplary diagrammatic representation of the typical structure of the education 

(including VET) system in Germany 
75

Assessments in A5 countries have shown that employers are often not satisfied with the quality of VET. 

In particular, they complain of the low quality of training schemes, lack of practical skills of trainees as 

well as inappropriate training contents. However economic development depends to great deal on 

adapting VET systems to meet social, environmental and economic demands. 

For this reason many countries stress the need to place a greater emphasis on VET and highlight the 

importance of:

• Providing attractive, qualified training programmes and continuing training opportunities in order to 

enhance employability and occupational mobility

• Designing VET to conform more closely with the field of practice which is highly stipulated for the 

refrigeration and air conditioning industry facing the deterioration potential of ODS and refrigerants 

with GWP

• Orienting VET closer to the requirements of the employment system and the corresponding labour 

market needs

• Preparing young people for degrees which comply with high standards while opening up forwardlooking employment prospects

Particular importance is to be assigned at the same time to cross-border cooperation in order to obtain 

expertise and support in promoting the development and strengthening of VET. This support can be 

found in bilateral projects between A5 countries and industrialised countries in Europe, USA and Asia, 

but also support can be given from international development agencies in form of development of 

training programmes and delivery of required equipment, tools and components. 

Some A5 countries do not have the structure that appropriate equipment and tools are available for the 

RAC servicing sector in general. If equipment from required quality has to be imported, usually it is 

from high price and loaded with taxes. This fact can lead to the situation that RAC companies and 

technician hardly can afford the required material. The government should provide alleviations and 

incentives to enable the provision of materials under competitive conditions for the RAC servicing 

sector. Within the framework of existing possibilities, international development agencies should consider not only to supply requested RAC tools and refrigerant handling equipment, but also special and 

safe components and functional parts for HC conversion technologies which cannot be found in most 

cases on the local market. 

It is very important to recognise the interconnection (based on national policies and regulations) between well maintained and efficient HC based RAC systems and appliances, specialists competence / 

company certification and the local availability of components, functional parts and refrigeration grade 

HC refrigerants. 

3.3 MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

3.3.1 Introduction

The quality management approach detailed in Part 2 can also be applied specifically to the training, 

certification and registration of engineers and technicians, and a variation is illustrated in Figure 14. 

This approach should apply to all individuals, whether they are dealing with the design and development 

of systems, manufacturing and production, assembly and installation of systems or refrigerant handling 

during service, maintenance or end-of-life.

Regarding the inputs, these are essentially the training materials, training staff, and also the personal 

experience of the individual. Thus, in order to proceed with a particular type of training, these inputs 

must meet certain levels or standards; a poor quality trainer can contribute to a poorer level of learning, 
76

or if the individual has no existing knowledge of the subject, they may get negligible benefit from a 

certain course. Therefore, it is important to set criteria for the various inputs to meet.

Figure 14: Overview of a general quality system applied to technician training, certification and registration

Depending upon what field the training is for, both theoretical and practical assessments should be 

carried out. If the individual fails the assessment, then further training is required. Again, the assessment 

should be of sufficiently high level, and set amongst external parties to ensure that qualifications are 

interchangeable. Assuming the trainee passes, then they could receive a certificate of competence and 

depending upon the responsibilities, be entered into a registration scheme. The adoption of such a 

registration scheme can be extremely useful. For example, it is easy to require that the individual goes 

through periodic re-training in order to obtain revisions in information and technical updates, if that 

registration is to be maintained. Similarly, the company that the individual is employed by can also be 

entered into a registration scheme; however, a condition of this is that the company also meets a set of 

minimum requirements (such as the availability of tools and equipment).

Usually external bodies will be used to provide inspections of the training activities, as well as the input 

materials and quality of assessment. This may then be part of an overall inspection scheme set up by some 

national authority; maybe an industry or governmental body addressing the RAC industry training as a 

whole, with the governmental authority approving the bulk of the input materials. The monitoring 

component is critical, since it will gather information on the general quality of the training process and 

the success of the trainees themselves. However, it must also be linked to the activities of those trainees 

working within the field, for several reasons, including gathering feedback on the correspondence between 

the course material and the actual work being carried out, and more importantly whether any systematic 

problems arise in practical situations that need to be addressed more deeply within training courses to 

minimise the potential for accidents and so on. Throughout the process, the involvement of a third party 

may be through direct governmental intervention, or indirectly through a nominated trade association.
77

3.3.2 Input requirements

The input requirements for training normally comprise three main categories:

i) Training material for the specific syllabus

ii) Training staff

iii) Existing level of trainee competence

Training material broadly covers the information that may be required by the trainee to pass the assessment, according to the particular syllabus. However, the lecture notes should cover a broad range of 

topics related to the subject under consideration, and must not cover only what is required by the 

assessment. This helps to give the trainee wider knowledge and understanding of the issues they are 

likely to encounter elsewhere. In addition, the training material should be supplemented by recommended textbooks and other technical guidance, for example, from institutes, trade organisations and development bodies, as well as exemplary technical literature from companies. 

The competence of the trainer, both working in the field and as a teacher, is important. In order to have 

the proper personal qualifications, training instructors in general must have the necessary first-hand 

vocational and pedagogical qualifications with the majority of the topics they are teaching about – theoretical and practical – as well as peripheral matters that may be broadly related to the topic. Instructors 

are normally considered occupationally (vocationally) qualified if they are at least 24 years old and have 

passed the final examination in a relevant occupation requiring formal training.

Alternatively, other examinations can be recognised if candidates can show suitable perennial practical 

experience. Vocational and pedagogical qualifications include the ability to plan, carry out and monitor 

training independently, with an orientation to creative, construction action.

It is also essential for the trainee to have already achieved a certain level of knowledge, experience, 

competence and skills in the general subject area that is being taught. Since the handling of HC refrigerants is effectively an “add-on” subject for refrigeration technology, the trainee should have some existing 

background knowledge on, for example, general refrigerant characteristics and safe handling, basic 

electrics, brazing, refrigeration theory, appreciation of system components and system types, and so on; 

depending upon the type of training they are embarking on.

Provided that the inputs to the training are comprehensive and meet the guidance above, this should 

provide a robust framework for inputs to the training. 

The best possible way to gain inputs (syllabus) for training in general is to have (establish) a VET 

committee at national level where members (experts) of the different training organisations (VETC, 

Union, Association) may formulate content and recommendations of training content for RAC technologies including information from the field, upgrades and “add-ons” to the overall inspection authority. 

Participants from important national or international manufactures may be invited to give additional 

inputs if requested. Additional, development organisations and governments from industrialised countries may support syllabus formulation activities if needed. Trainers and instructors from vocational 

training bodies can be invited to obtain an industrial training from international manufacturers or 

VETCs, located in Europe or elsewhere, to receive the necessary knowledge and skills (including existing 

syllabus) required for the A5 countries need. In fact these are well implemented procedures known from 

Europe, Asia (Japan, Korea) and USA.
78

3.3.3 Assessment

Two forms of assessments should be carried out, pre- and post-training.

Pre-training assessment

Pre-training assessment is used to establish the baseline for knowledge and/or skills and should be 

carried out before the training workshop starts. In order to cover the widest possible spectrum it is 

recommended that multi-choice items are used. Pre-tests should be analysed in order to detect weaknesses in the current provision and state of knowledge and to identify the scale of the task on training.

Post training assessment

Post-training assessment can be used for two purposes. The first is to simply enable an analysis of 

progress made and this can be used to encourage students to greater efforts. The second purpose is to 

enable certification of successful trainees as part of a national certification scheme, which in turn can be 

a competitive advantage for certified technicians and servicing workshops. 

While pre-training assessment is often best carried out using multiple choice items as described, only 

knowledge can be properly assessed this way. Any post-training certification assessment should include a 

rigorous practical assessment reinforced by practical sample work assessment and additional question and 

answer sessions. 

3.3.4 Guidelines for certification of persons

It is important to ensure that organisations involved with certifying technicians follow the appropriate 

procedures. National legislation may restrict the access to refrigerants to certified technicians and 

servicing workshops following a pre-defined process and schedule. The overall inspection authority will 

assess whether it is more appropriate to use a certification programme devised by national VET committee (including and probably reflecting existing structure) and with certificates either awarded by a 

National Awarding Body or the VETC directly. 

Alternatively it is possible to “participate” in internationally recognised certification schemes developed 

by refrigeration association or training institutions in other countries. Such international certificates can 

be “localised” as necessary and provide the benefit of harmonising standards in those countries that use 

them.

Furthermore the standard ISO/IEC 17024 (on general requirements for bodies operating certification of 

persons) can be used as a baseline, as it provides a benchmark for certification bodies offering certification of persons in any occupation and facilitates accreditation by national bodies. It is for organisations 

and entities wishing to attain international recognition for the certification of the competence of individuals. 

The intention of ISO/IEC 17024 is to provide a framework for accreditation and certification programmes for individuals and a standard against which a third party can validate the management system 

for certification of persons. The standard itself is not enough to certify a person, but it is designed to be 

used in conjunction with a “scheme standard”. It requires that competence is demonstrated which 

includes education, knowledge, skills and experience requirements that a certified person needs and 

would be expected to meet. In addition, ISO/IEC 17024 provides the general requirements for a management system, where it describes conditions for application, examinations, surveillance and re-certification of individuals. It specifies the requisites eluding conflict of interest including certification, confidentiality of information, competence of staff and contractors, and the need for stakeholder input into 

certification schemes. This standard specifies requirements for a body certifying persons against specific 

requirements, including the development and maintenance of a certification scheme for personnel. 
79

Staged and targeted introduction for training and certification

It would be sensible to deal with the introduction of HC refrigerant and systems using a staged approach. It is preferable to start with equipment that would pose least risk, and move forwards to more 

vulnerable equipment types as experience, knowledge and familiarity increases. Equipment considered 

having the least risk have the following characteristics:

• Smaller refrigerant charges – smaller charge size, particularly with respect to the room size are much 

safer and the danger of not properly estimating the minimum room size is less pronounced.

• Fewer numbers of potential sources of ignition (SOI) – there is less chance of the technician incorrectly identifying them or making errors in sealing or removing them.

• Similar equipment characteristics across the installed base – if most of the equipment within a particular category is similar, it would be easier for a technician to know how to handle it and therefore 

minimise the possibility of errors. 

• Refrigerant-containing parts outside – the more parts of the system that are positioned outside minimises the risk of leakage to the inside, and also the technician is more likely to carry out refrigerant 

handling outside.

• No additional modifications to make to the system – situations that do not include the necessity to fit 

other items such as gas detection, mechanical ventilation systems, etc, which requires a high level of 

knowledge of the technology.

Based on these characteristics, the system categories may be allocated an overall risk level, where level 1 

indicates systems posing the least risk, and level 4 indicates systems with the greatest risk, as shown in 

Table 5. (In fact, according to Table 5, most of the system categories that correspond to an overall risk 

level of 4, probably should not be using HC refrigerants at all due to the demands of safety standards.)

As mentioned, it is recommended that the introduction of HC refrigerants is staged according to the risk 

level associated with a given system category. Figure 15 provides a suggestion as to the timescale for 

doing this, where there is a one year increment between each level in order to enable a gradual development of experience, knowledge and familiarity with the technology. A slightly longer interval between 

level 3 and level 4 is proposed due to the additional complications likely to be encountered. 

Figure 15: Suggested timescale for the staged introduction of HC refrigerants according to risk level

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 

level 

4 

level 

3 

level 

2 

level 

1 

Introduction year Introduction year

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

level 1

level 2

level 3

level 4
80

System

categories

Risk rating (Low, Medium, High)

Overall risk 

charge level

Size

number

of SOIs

Similarity external other 

items

Domestic refrigeration L H L H L level 2

Retail refrigeration

• Integral (stand-alone) L M M H L level 2

• Split (condensing unit) M M H M H level 4

• [Central direct expansion] H H H M H [level 4]

• Central indirect M L L L M level 2

Air conditioning

 • Integral (window/portable) L L L H L level 1

• Split L L L M L level 1

• Close control M H M M M level 3

• Rooftop unit M M M M M level 3

• [Ducted direct expansion] H H H M H [level 4]

• [Multi-split] H M H M H [level 4]

• Chiller H L L L M level 2

Transport

• Car air conditioning L L L L L level 1

• Transport a/c M M H M L level 3

• Truck refrigeration M M M L M level 2

• Fishing vessels M M H M M level 3

Food processing, bespoke H M H M H level 4

Table 5: Overall risk levels associated with the application of HCs to system categories
81

It is also noted that the system categories within Table 5 within square parentheses ‘[ ... ]’ should not be 

considered for use with HC refrigerants. Consequently, the only types of systems that HC refrigerants 

could be applied to (where applicable) are retail refrigeration split systems, food processing and other 

bespoke systems that would require case-by-case evaluation.

Setting up of a body to issue certificates

Many countries already have a certification body to issue and hand over certificates to persons after VET 

process in the different occupations. Where these structures exist it is to analyse if adaptations for the 

RAC industries are necessary. In any case these bodies should be independent and not bounded by 

instructions. Responsibilities should only relate to the Overall Inspection Authority. Best possible way 

for implementation of a certification body (where they do not exist) is to establish a VET committee at 

national level, where members (experts) of the different training organisations (VETC, union, association) take part. 

3.3.5 Technician and company registration (licensing)

Registration requirements are the most effective way to ensure that assigned RAC and HC professionals 

and companies will change their current work practices. It is an effective way to prevent technicians who 

have the necessary training and are applying the formulated Code of Practice from losing business to 

those who ignore the regulations and continue “business as usual”.

A good example is found in the UK, a voluntary registration scheme of well trained “Safe Refrigerant 

Handlers” which is maintained by the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Industry Board (ACRIB). 

However it is considerable that this registration is executed by RAC trade unions or the VET committee, 

whatever is applicable. A further step will be the discussion with the Overall Inspection Authority 

(Government) about the possibility of making the scheme mandatory. Whether authorised and enforced 

by a government body and under general supervision it is important that the supervision focuses on 

issues of real importance and enforcement of the prescribed Code of Good and Safe Practices, rather 

than on legal formalities.

For certified technicians or companies, a registration card should be issued which should allow identification of the certified person or company as well as the expiry date. In order to extend the validity of the 

certification, the Overall Inspection Authority and its stakeholder partners and executive bodies will 

decide if there is need for a further assessment of skills and knowledge after expiry or not. If not, the 

technician or company simply renews the registration card. Otherwise, the technicians have to be 

re-assessed or if necessary first re-trained and then re-assessed. This opportunity for re-training and 

re-assessment thus occurs periodically after the expiry of the certification and allows the technicians to 

remain updated concerning newest technology developments. It also allows ensuring that the skills and 

knowledge of the technicians are appropriate and to control and monitor the supply and use of refrigerant.
82

3.3.6 Inspection of operations and monitoring

As discussed under Part 3.3.2 the inspection of general training and licensing system operation is to have 

(establish) a VET committee at national level where members of the different training organisations 

(VETC, union, association) take part. Assigned experts (e.g. committee chairman or deputy) should 

inspect stepwise the overall functional operation and if compliance with implemented regulations is 

secured. 

i) Quality and enforcement of training to ensure equal standards throughout the sector

ii) Compliance with code of practices and regulations during various training

iii) Assessment of training participants

iv) Certification of participants

v) Registration of participants 

vi) Certification and registration of enterprises

vii) Compliance with the code of practices and regulations as exercised in the field

viii) Monitoring 

ix) Reporting to the overall inspection authority

Members (experts) of the different training organisations (VETC, union, association) may formulate 

content and recommendations of training content for RAC technologies including information from the 

field, upgrades and “add-ons” to the overall inspection authority. Participants from important national or 

international manufacturers may be invited to give additional inputs if requested to gain information on 

new technologies and standards.

3.4 CONTENT FOR STANDARD REFRIGERATION TRAINING 

3.4.1 Introduction

Part 3.4 refers to the European “Leonardo da Vinci Project” EUR/02/C/F/NT- 84604 /

EC Agreement N° 2002-4549/001-001LE2X. Responsible and in charge is the “Air conditioning and 

Refrigeration European Association” (AREA).12 AREA is the European Association of National AC&R 

Contractor Associations, set up to serve the air conditioning and refrigeration contractors at the European level and formulated a uniform educational level for training and qualification throughout Europe. 

Standards are given to enable the various European countries to compare, check and adapt (if necessary) 

their educational and training programmes. Content of this standards are provided in this section to 

exemplary demonstrate necessary minimum content of syllabus topics for vocational and educational air 

conditioning and refrigeration training and may enable especially A5 countries to find specific guidance 

in developing national training standards, where not already exist, or if there is a need for modification. 

The following European standards and regulations take part in the formulation of core activities and to 

define the AREA Refrigeration Craftsman/Craftswomen (ARC): 

• EN 13313, Refrigerating systems and heat pumps – competence of personnel

• EN 378, Refrigerating systems and heat pumps, safety and environmental requirements

- Part 1: Basic requirements, definitions, classification and selection criteria

- Part 2: Design, construction, testing, marking and documentation

- Part 3: Installation site and personal protection

- Part 4: Operation, maintenance, repair and recovery

• EN 50110, Operation of electrical installations

• European “F-Gas Regulation”

12 For further information please visit the AREA internet site, www.area-eur.be
83

3.4.2 Categorisation of ARC topics and ARC competence description

A thorough description of ARC topics and the ARC competencies has been developed, and this has been 

included in Appendix 7.

3.4.3 Additional syllabus for HC refrigerants

The skills and competences for each of the subject areas in Appendix 7 can be supplemented by the 

material within this handbook, wherever relevant.

3.4.4 Example of assessment criteria 

Some suggested criteria and topics for assessment of technicians specifically for handling HC refrigerants 

are included in Appendix 8.

3.5 TRAINING FOR DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

3.5.1 Introduction

Persons involved with the design and development of systems using HC refrigerants also require training. The training should cover a wide variety of topics since those designing the equipment need to be 

aware of and how to deal with all of the conditions under which the equipment will operate, and the 

possible failures and problems that may occur during the equipment lifetime. Whilst some of the 

training should cover conventional refrigerant handling aspects, it should also deal with more academic 

subjects for experimentation and analytical purposes.

Figure 16 provides an overview of the categories that should be considered for training of those people 

involvement with design and development aspects. Obviously the inclusion and extent of training of 

certain topics varies according to the role of the purpose of the work.

Figure 16: Overview of the categories of training to be considered

In general, four categories are identified, with two of them being the core subjects, and two further 

subjects being less critical. 
84

3.5.2 Technical core training

This is based on the main components of the training that, for example, service and maintenance technicians might receive, such as safe refrigerant handling. However, with the important safety concepts, such 

as flammable properties, a deeper understanding should be gained. Of utmost importance is that the 

requirements of regulations and safety standards are covered. In particular, it is vital to understand the 

logic of the regulations and standards, so that the boundaries can be worked within.

3.5.3 Product core training

This is primarily focussed on the RAC products that are being worked upon. The training should 

provide an understanding of the systems and equipment under consideration, construction characteristics, how they are used, where they are installed, and the types of conditions they will be installed 

within, the usual service and maintenance practices, and so on. With this background the engineers can 

identify all the possible situations that the equipment may find itself in and the types of personnel that 

may be handling it, so that they are more able to anticipate the possible consequences and the conditions 

that could lead up to such consequences. To assist this, training should also be provided on typical and 

possible equipment and component failures, failure mechanisms, etc.

3.5.4 Fundamental training

For the fundamentals of the safety-related subjects, the subjects should include all those related to the 

safety of flammable substances, so that the principles can be applied and taken into consideration when 

developing and designing to equipment. Furthermore, background knowledge on these topics will also 

help in the design and setting up of safety testing. The subjects should include mechanical component 

failure, especially leakage, processes and mechanisms, gas dispersion and mixing, combustion/fire and 

overpressure/explosion concepts. 

3.5.5 Peripheral training

The peripheral training covers subjects that should provide grounding for carrying out measurements 

and analysis. It may include approaches for setting up safety testing, applied methods for analysis of the 

results (that may differ from the methods normally used for refrigeration-related aspects), as well as 

familiarisation with the appropriate types of instrumentation and associated measurement equipment, its 

application and limitations. Further to this, there may also be coverage of the test standards and protocols for certain types of safety testing, that isn’t directly related to RAC equipment safety.

The suggestions included here should act as guidance only, especially since some of the training for 

development and design stages should be more targeted for specific situations.

3.6 TRAINING FOR PRODUCTION

3.6.1 Procedures for working within production area

Training and awareness-raising for workers will provide a more secure and healthy working environment, 

which are the key elements in a production area. In the production area there is often a compromise 

between production output and procedures which could impede output. This is always a point of discussion. However, with the use of HC refrigerants and the need to regulate to a larger extent the procedures, it 

is often the case that an improvement in efficiency will be achieved due to the fact that individual operations are monitored in more detail. Nevertheless, it is important that managers handle any possible conflict 

carefully. The initial effort will require more time but the monitoring will provide valuable information 

and control of efficiency, thus providing significant benefits in safety, reliability and product quality.
85

3.6.2 Awareness-raising of manufacturing personnel

In a production area there are many areas and installations that require special precautions and handling. 

Thus the personnel must be trained to consciously work with these. In the production area there also exist 

a series of pipes, piping assemblies and electrical equipment with which the personnel must be comfortable with, and understand what to do in cases there are conflicts with their operations. Any new installation in general requires an awareness programme to be initiated in order that the production area and the 

personnel working there understand the implications of these new installations. The personnel have to be 

trained to consciously follow the rules, regulations and guidelines diligently. After an awareness training 

and explanation of the procedures how to handle the situations in which HCs are involved these will be 

considered soon as any other installation in the production area. Of course this awareness programme will 

not be a one-off but a continuous process in order to keep the minds sharp in dealing with HCs or any 

other gases running in the production area. The supervisors of the facility must ensure this is done. 

3.6.3 Personnel to be trained

There are different levels of training with regard to the type of activities that is applicable to anyone 

entering the production area. Training should not be limited to regular staff in the production area but 

also to those from external agencies and companies. For anyone entering the area, they must have 

knowledge of basic industrial safety, proper understanding of the area and what to do in case of an 

emergency, specific knowledge of markings and warnings applied to installations (e.g., piping with HC) 

and understanding of the specific areas where HC are used. 

It is also strongly advised that any procedures are setup that define that any activity in the production 

area are included in specific training and have approval of the safety manager. This avoids, specifically in 

the early stages, poor habits being introduced and provides the opportunity to review and setup new 

procedures for the proper working in the production area. 

3.6.4 Identification of areas

When a new process is introduced it is favourable to identify where this activity is performed in order 

that in the production area all the personnel involved on a daily basis is aware of the new process. This 

will also create a better understanding of the need of new procedures due to the changed production 

process. With the identification of the area also the introduction of the obligation to report any activities 

to the production line supervisor should be introduced. In order that the principle of at least two persons 

are introduced whereby any repairs, changes to the production process, model changes etc, are monitored by the production line supervisors and safety managers. In this respect, with the change of shift 

the information can be transferred.

3.6.5 Changes to work situation

At the end of the production line a product will exit which contains HC and the whole process from the 

receipt of material until the filling with HC and packaging/shipment is involved in setting up the 

procedures. The output will already have an entire set of procedures for these activities in order to 

control the quality, product configuration, material as well as production flow. What has to be introduced is the crosscheck at different production line areas due to the fact that HCs are used. In mixed 

productions special care has to be taken in order to avoid the use of wrong components and in case of 

changes the production line has to be informed. The ideal case is that wrong applied changes are detected the earliest possible and before filling with HC the product workmanship and configuration is 

correct. With or without mixed production what could be advisable is to use specific marking of HC 

suitable components, e.g. use of coloured baskets, racks and other storage items besides the traditional 

checking of the codes. In addition to procedures of information exchange when components or processes 

are changed at the start of each shift increase the quality of the process.
86

3.6.6 Procedures review

The first step is to verify the existing product specific procedures and review them in order to add the 

specific HC aspects to it. Secondly to run a production trial with dummy products and adjust the 

procedures for each individual step taking into account the full process. It is then also a good opportunity to setup a training programme tailored according to the functions performed in the production area 

and a basic training for all. 

Additionally the work-floor procedures have to be adjusted especially, among others, all which involve 

transport of materials, forklift movements, cranes, maintenance, repairs and machinery/equipment 

modifications. Special focus should be placed on sources of energy, mainly electrical but do not disregard 

heat sources also the ones who could be generated by friction. There are of course other aspects of the 

health and safety procedures which should also be included in the review. The procedures review plan is 

a continuous process with shorter review periods the first year of production and when model changes 

are applied.

3.6.7 Staff training for distribution

Those who are involved or responsible for the storage, distribution and general handling of equipment 

containing flammable refrigerants should also receive some training. However, given that the equipment 

should be correctly designed, well packaged and that generally only smaller (low charge) equipment is 

normally shipped pre-filled with refrigerant, the risk is considered minimal. 

Nevertheless, the operator of the site should provide comprehensive training programmes for all levels of 

staff from the most junior warehouse operator to the site director.13 All new employees should undergo 

induction training. The principal areas covered should include:

• Site safety and chemical safety

• Accident prevention

• Fire precautions and alarm procedures

• General background information

• Works facilities and amenities

• Company rules and procedures

• HC refrigerant’s flammability aspects

• How this changes/impacts on their current practices (i.e., if using non-flammable refrigerants in new 

to the site)

• Recognition of hazard warning signs used for packaging

• National regulations that relate to flammable and hazardous substances

• Basic fire fighting 

Certain supervisory staff should receive more extensive safety training covering, flammability hazards, 

risks to individuals, checking for a and dealing with leaks and evacuation in the event of a major emergency. There should also be a fire team which should train for 1-2 hours each week in order to ensure a 

permanent state or readiness and competency. There should be at least one full-scale fire drill and one 

practise site evacuation annually. The first aiders on site should, from time to time, take part in simulated exercises with the site fire team, and practise recovery of “casualties” with specific injuries.

Those involved in distribution and shipping should in addition be aware of the use of UN Model 

Regulations for transportation of dangerous goods, and particularly the transport requirements for 

equipment containing flammable refrigerants.

13 It is noted that the majority of this training is good practice for most warehouses, whether the products contain flammable 

refrigerants or not. 
87

Those involved in warehousing, handling and (physical) transportation should in addition be aware of:

• General rules for storage of flammable materials

• Emergency procedures

• Checking packaging for leakage of equipment

• Correct manual handling practices

• Emergency procedures

Fork-lift truck drivers should pass a competence test set by an outside organisation before being allowed 

to drive fork lift trucks. Warehouse sites can train new drivers provided they have a qualified instructor. 

All drivers should undergo periodic refresher courses and competence tests.

• Simulated exercises

• Lecturers on fire and chemical hazards

• Videos

• Practical experience of wearing breathing apparatus

• Working with local fire brigade officers

Managers should receive two types of training, the first to improve their proficiency and enhance their 

management skills and the second to practise their emergency management roles. This second type of 

training is particularly important and should include an annual full- scale practise major emergency 

lasting up to 3 hours. At these exercises, which ideally are organised by specialists, different managers 

should practise their roles.
88

4.1 INTRODUCTION

Where systems are manufactured which require charging of HC refrigerant, special consideration is 

necessary for the design and installation of the production and associated areas. Thus the areas that store 

and transfer the refrigerant and where the refrigerant-filled appliances are worked upon must be addressed. They key areas are:

i) Refrigerant storage (cylinders or bulk tank)

ii) Refrigerant pumping and control of supply

iii) Refrigerant charging areas

iv) Appliance repair and refrigerant recovery area

v) Refrigerant supply distribution pipework

vi) Other work area (leak checking, electrical safety testing, operation/performance testing, final 

assembly, packaging areas)

These are listed in an approximate order of risk, with item (i) posing the greatest risk and item (vi) the 

lowest risk. This provides an indication as to the level of consideration, the extent of the safety features 

and the degree of control necessary to apply to that part in order to ensuring safe operation of the 

facility.

In terms of the actual production or assembly line, there are a number of positions where there is a risk 

of a release of flammable refrigerant, and these are indicated in Figure 17. Thus, from charging through 

to the packaging stage, there is a potential for emission of refrigerant. In the event that an appliance is 

found to be faulty, it may be sent to a repair area for removal of refrigerant and remedial action to be 

subsequently taken. 

In order to ensure safe operation of the production line and associated areas, a safety system must be 

introduced. The main features of such a safety system may include: a gas detection system, a ventilation 

system, associated control system, warning alarms, marking and signs and relevant instructions and 

procedures. In addition to the hardware, it is essential to provide specialist training of staff, which 

should include:

• Workers

• Supervisors

• Maintenance staff

• Building/facility managers

• Operations managers

In order to ensure that the installation is carried out appropriately, it is advisable to get the entire installation and procedures approved by a relevant notified body, such as TÜV (see Part 2). A major challenge 

is integrating these elements of the safety system into the various parts of the entire facility. The following sections provide an overview as to how this can be achieved.

PART 4: PRODUCTION AND MANUFACTURING 

 FACILITIES
89

Figure 17: Typical manufacturing process, identifying positions where refrigerant releases should be 

considered

4.2 REFRIGERANT SUPPLY

4.2.1 Refrigerant storage

Refrigerant storage may be in the form of bulk tanks or cylinders, which may be located externally to the 

production area or within charging machines. Depending upon the country, the area that the tanks or 

cylinders are located should be a zoned area (according to hazardous area guidelines), and the associated 

rules that are applicable should be conformed to.

Bulk tanks are normally supplied as 1 tonne or 2 tonne vessels and are positioned outside. There may be 

one or more vessels depending upon the demand. The siting and positioning of the vessels is normally 

subject to national and local regulations and codes. Typically, these require the features included in 

Table 6. In addition, the operators must ensure there are adequate arrangements for inspection and 

maintenance of the tank and the associated equipment. This is normally arranged by the HC refrigerant 

supplier. 

Cylinders may be used in one of two ways: either located external to the factory or positioned inside a 

charging machine. If located externally, they are normally positioned within a cylinder cage or an 

independently constructed cylinder room. If positioned within the charging machine, unused full, or 

used empty cylinder must be stored within a cylinder cage or a cylinder room which is located outside at 

some distance from the factory. The siting and positioning of the cylinders within a cage or a special 

room are normally subject to national and local regulations and codes. Typically, the installation of a 

cylinder cage or a cylinder room requires the features included in the corresponding columns in Table 6.

In addition, the operators must ensure there are adequate arrangements for inspection and maintenance 

of the cylinder cage or room and the associated equipment. 
90

Table 6: Safety features for bulk tanks, cylinder enclosures and pump rooms

Safety features

Bulk 

tanks

Cylinder 

cages

Cylinder 

rooms

Pump 

rooms

A minimum safe distance between the room/cylinders/

vessel and surrounding occupancies †

✖ ✖ ✖ ✖

The surrounding area is fenced and locked and restricted 

for authorised personnel only

✖ ✖ ✖ ✖

Warning signs on entrance ✖

A bund wall to contain any accidental spill ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖

Easy access for both deliveries and fire/emergency 

services

✖ ✖ ✖ ✖

A gas detection system and associated alarms ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖

Emergency stop buttons ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖

Vessels must have pressure relief devices ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖

Liquid level indication on the vessel ✖

Warning signs, flammable gas/hazardous area signage 

on vessel and surrounding area

✖ ✖ ✖ ✖

No potential sources of ignition within the area ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖

No combustible materials in the immediate area ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖

Above-ground and below-ground pipework is protected 

against accidental damage and corrosion

✖ ✖ ✖ ✖

Use an excess-flow valve on the vessel outlet ✖

No drains or sunken areas ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖

Ventilation gaps to the outside ✖ ✖

Ventilation duct system ✖ ✖

Explosion relief ✖ ✖

Fire extinguisher ✖ ✖

Sprinkler system ✖ ✖

Anti-static flooring ✖ ✖

† This distance is sometimes in the region of 3 – 5 m, but is depends very much on the local rules and the conditions 

associated with the installation
91

4.2.2 Refrigerant pumping and control of supply

In order to transfer the refrigerant from the tanks or cylinders to the charging area, special equipment is 

required. This primarily includes a transfer pump, but may also include changeover valves (in the case of 

two or more cylinders or tanks), pressure regulating valves, pressure relief valves, shut-off valves, pressure 

gauges, and so on. Normally such equipment is housed in a special pump room, which is also classified 

as a hazardous area. This area should be equipped with the following features included in Table 6. 

Additional requirements may be necessary, as dictated by equipment suppliers and national regulations.

4.2.3 Refrigerant supply distribution pipework

Pipework will transfer refrigerant from the refrigerant pump to the charging machines. This should be 

well designed and sufficiently robust so as to avoid leakage. Preferably welded stainless steel pipe should 

be used, that is treated as necessary to make it resistant to corrosion. Furthermore, it should be protected 

against mechanical damage and impacts; this typically applies to pipework close to the ground level in 

the working areas. The pipework may be fitted with pressure sensors so that the necessary alarm system 

can warn of an increase in internal pressure or in case of a rapid loss in system pressure, although this 

would be ineffective for smaller leaks. Another option is to monitor the pressure of the refrigerant 

transfer pump in case the pressure of the refrigerant has dropped, in which an alarm can be provided to 

the changing area. Also, a pressure relief device should be fitted where necessary and vented to the 

outside in case of excessive pressure build-up. The entire routing of the pipework must be away from any 

sources of ignition, and must not pass through areas where a leak could result in a build-up of refrigerant. Flammable gas warning signs must be applied at regular internals throughout the length of the 

piping installation. The entire piping system must be subject to a tightness test and strength test, and 

throughout its lifetime, subject to regular inspections and leak checking. 

4.3 APPLIANCE PRODUCTION

4.3.1 Refrigerant charging areas

Refrigerant charging is normally carried out using specially designed charging machines, and it is highly 

recommended that only those intended for use with flammable refrigerants are employed. There are 

three categories of charging machines: 

• Those that are fed with refrigerant from a remote location

• Those that are fed from a cylinder held in the immediate locality

• Those that are fed from a cylinder held internally

In all cases, the charging machine should include a gas detector used to initiate internal exhaust ventilation in case of an inadvertent release. The ventilation rate will depend upon the quantity of refrigerant 

held in the charging machine, but also the associated safety features incorporated to prevent further 

refrigerant being fed into the charging machine from the supply line; thus a larger contained quantity 

and no emergency shut-off valves in the line will necessitate a greater ventilation rate. For a setup where 

the refrigerant cylinder is remote from the charging machine but positioned in the immediate area, an 

enclosed area or bund wall should be used, which contains additional gas detectors and floor-level 

ventilation system. 

The charging of the appliance should be carried out using proper connectors so as to minimise the 

quantity of refrigerant released upon disconnection (as well as the quantity of air ingress into the system). All charging should take place over an inverted ventilated hood such that it catches any refrigerant 

that gets released. There should be ventilation inlet both within the inverted hood and at floor level in 

case of a wider spill. Gas detection should be fitted within the charging area at a position where any 

significant release will be sensed, so that in the event that an abnormally high concentration is detected, 
92

the supply of refrigerant to the charging machine can be terminated and the ventilation rate can be 

stepped-up. There should always be at least a bund wall surrounding the charging area to hold in any 

accidental release, and in some cases, the entire charging process may be carried out within a special 

charging room within which the conveyor passes through. 

4.3.2 Appliance repair and refrigerant recovery area

In the event that a system has failed a test at some point along the production line, it may be required to 

carry out repairs. If the system has been charged with refrigerant, it is usually necessary to remove the 

refrigerant before carrying out the work. This can be done by either:

• Recover the refrigerant using a refrigerant recovery machine, flush with nitrogen, then evacuate using a 

vacuum pump (which may be a conventional type or one specially for hazardous areas depending upon 

the conditions)

• Vent the refrigerant into the exhaust ventilation duct, flush with nitrogen, then evacuate using a 

conventional vacuum pump

• Employ a specially designed product that recovers, evacuation and exhausts without worker intervention

• Use a combined venting and evacuation device (for example, that uses compressed air driven venturi 

pump)

Whichever method is employed, the area where the operation is carried out must be setup appropriately, 

and the equipment used must be fit for the purpose. For example, the recovery machines should not have 

any potential sources of ignition associated with them, and if the vacuum pump is not one especially for 

use with flammable refrigerants, then it should be used only in a special area and the system well flushed 

with nitrogen before use. In any case, to improve the safe handling of the appliance when opening it, the 

evacuated system should first be flushed with nitrogen in order to render the residual HC inert. All work 

involving refrigerant handling should be carried out over an inverted hood with associated gas detectors 

and a ventilation system. If activities such as brazing, electrical testing, etc, are to be carried out, they 

should be done in a special area. Handheld gas detectors should also be available. (For additional 

requirements, refer to Part 4.5 and Part 6.1 on workshop areas and repairs.)

4.3.3 Other work areas

There are several other work areas that handle the appliances that contain HC refrigerants. Within each 

of these there is a possibility of an emission of refrigerant, for example:

• Leak checking area; small release previously undetected may be occurring

• Electrical safety testing area; small release previously undetected may be occurring

• Operation/performance testing area; small release previously undetected may be occurring, or temporary release may occur when dummy condensing unit or evaporator unit are connected to or disconnected from the manufactured appliance using quick connector

• Final assembly area, where the building of the appliance is completed; small release previously undetected may be occurring

• Packaging area, where appliance is wrapped and boxed; small release previously undetected may be 

occurring

Since, the appliances are also transferred from one area to the next either by mechanical conveyor or 

manually, there is a possibility for a leak to develop at any of these stages. Therefore, appropriate safety 

features should be considered and installed where deemed necessary, including:
93

• Inverted hood and associated ventilation system

• Gas detection

• Emergency stop buttons 

• Audible and visual alarm signal

• Warning signs 

• Associated emergency management control system

Each stage should be assessed for the risk of leakage, the quantity of leakage and the likelihood of 

ignition based on the activities being carried out at that position. In some cases, all of these features may 

be necessary, whereas in others few may be needed.

4.4 FACTORY SAFETY SET-UP

4.4.1 Introduction

Any production facility should always have a safety system incorporated into the production and/or 

workshop area. Within the present context, a “safety system” is a combination of equipment and controls 

that are interconnected and which enable the installation to operate in a safe manner and to automatically deal with hazardous situations without undue risk to the workers. The main features of a safety 

system may include:

• Gas detection system

• Ventilation system

• Warning alarms

• Control system

• Marking and signs

• Instructions and procedures

4.4.2 Gas detection

Gas detection requires a number of sensors to be located at appropriate positions to ensure that any 

release of refrigerant will be identified. The number and positioning of the sensors requires careful 

consideration of all the potential release points and the likely distribution of those releases. There are a 

variety of different types of gas sensors; it is important to use ones which are applicable to hazardous 

areas, that are not susceptible to contamination and which retain their accuracy well. Probably the most 

suitable are infra-red types, and secondly, good quality catalytic types, although cost implications and 

the presence of other substances (that may give false readings) can affect the choice. In order to maintain 

operation of the safety system, it is sensible to have spare sensors available and to re-calibrate regularly. 

The gas detection system should be constantly active.

4.4.3 Ventilation system

A well designed ventilation system is used to exhaust emitted refrigerant to the outside, comprising 

hoods, inlet grilles, ductwork and fans. For working areas, inverted hoods should be used to “collect” 

released refrigerant, both from working position and inlet grilles at floor level to remove further spillages. 

The discharge should be positioned out of the building in a way that any exhausted refrigerant cannot 

travel back into any buildings or occupied spaces. The fans are normally dual speed so that two flow rate 

settings can be used: a low level flow rate for normal operation and a high level flow rate for emergency 

operation. Fans motors and fan blades must be rated for use in hazardous areas. It is also advisable to 

install a second back-up fan in case of a failure of the main fan motor or blades. The ventilation flow rate 
94

is calculated according to the position of the duct inlet and the maximum possible emission of gas likely 

from the source. As with gas sensors, the ventilation system should be operating both during working 

periods and absent periods, and it may only be switched off if entire installation has been decommissioned. Lastly, pressure sensors (differential pressure switches) must be employed to ensure that ventilation is always working; in the event that the ventilation fails, then the supply of refrigerant must be 

terminated. 

4.4.4 Warning alarms

A set of warning signals are required to be distributed about the production and other areas, such that in 

an emergency situation, both workers and responsible managers are made aware. Both visual (coloured 

lamps) and audible alarms should be employed. Different levels of alarm should be used to indicate the 

level of risk. For example, a green lamp to indicate it is safe to work, an amber lamp to indicate that a 

low concentration of refrigerant has been detected, and a red lamp to warn that a major release or some 

other system failure has occurred. The warnings should be able to be seen by all workers and personnel, 

whether in the production area or the designated offices.

4.4.5 Control system

A control system is necessary to act as a central point for receipt of signals from gas detectors, ventilation 

pressure sensors, gas vessel or pipe pressure sensors, manual emergency buttons, etc. Similarly, the 

control system sends the desired activation signals to visual and audible alarms, terminates pumps and/

or operation of charging machines, activates shut-off valves, etc, as necessary according to the input 

signals. The entire system (controls, ventilation system, gas detection, etc) should be provided with 

uninterruptible power supply (UPS) that will maintain operation for a minimum period of time (e.g., 

one hour). Further, the control system should be designed in such a way that it is fail-safe, i.e., if something happens that may result in a signal not activating a safety feature (e.g., a failure in electrical supply, 

pneumatic air pressure, a part of ventilation system, a gas detector signal, etc), all refrigerant supplies 

must be closed off and electrical supplies terminated (e.g., by using normally-closed valves, contactors, 

etc). The use of pneumatic controls rather than electric should also be considered in order to minimise 

the potential for sources of ignition. During normal operation, the different levels of alarms, ventilation, 

etc, may be activated according to different gas concentrations measured (for example, 15% of the LFL, 

30% of LFL, etc). 

4.4.6 Marking and signs

Relevant marking and signage is required at all critical positions, in order to ensure that personnel are 

aware of the nature of the equipment, and to minimise the likelihood of interference with the safety 

equipment. Signs and warnings may include: “flammable gas”, “read the instructions before using”, 

“hazardous area”, “authorised personnel access only” and similar (see Figure 18).

Figure 18: Examples of appropriate signage
95

4.4.7 Instructions and procedures

An essential aspect of the safety system is the development and use of proper instructions and working 

procedures. These should be written in a comprehensible manner and relayed to all relevant personnel. 

Such material should cover, but not be limited to:

• Correct operation of all production equipment

• Correct operation of all safety-related equipment

• Mechanics and logic of safety system

• What to do in an emergency

• Reporting structures and procedures

• General safe handling of flammable gases

• Correct/safe working procedures 

• Maintenance procedures

• Exhaustive list of prohibited actions (such as unauthorised modifications or other work carried out on 

any of the safety system)

The applicable instructions and procedures should be included for approvals process by the certification 

body.

4.5 CONSIDERATIONS FOR WORKSHOP/REPAIR AREAS 

4.5.1 Introduction

Workshop and repair areas within small-scale production areas and service/maintenance departments 

require careful consideration of their layout in order to ensure a safe working environment. A comprehensive risk assessment should be conducted prior to setting up and installation of the area. Documents 

relating to the areas detailed above can be obtained from guidelines dealing with hazardous areas. 

A Workshop/repair area is normally set up for appliance servicing/reconditioning, and not for appliance 

manufacture. Other processes such as refrigerant recovery, appliance leak testing and appliance performance testing may also take place in this area. 

The following sets out general requirements for avoiding electrical and flammability hazards for charging equipment and appliances and are also applicable to all other machinery and processes used for other 

operations carried out in the charging area. 

All personnel working in charging areas should be suitably trained, both in the use of flammable refrigerants and the use of fire extinguishers for tackling HC refrigerant fires. No unauthorised access should 

be allowed to the charging area. All work carried out should be in accordance with procedures suitable 

for use with flammable refrigerants, for example, those within Part 6 of this handbook.

4.5.2 Area layout 

A suggested layout for the workshop area is provided in Figure 19. It is divided into two discrete areas, 

one for refrigerant handling and the other for hot and electrical work. Some parts of the workshop area 

where refrigerant handling will take place should be classified as hazardous areas. Electrical equipment 

and other equipment that may otherwise be a potential source of ignition should be subject to the 

requirements for, say, zone 2 areas. The area should be adequately identified on all sides, and particularly 

at entrances, with notices indicating the presence of HC refrigerant. It is preferable to have a gated bund 

wall surrounding the charging area – approximately 0.5 – 1.0 m high – in case of a major release. Also 

the entire working area should be identified on the floor with visible yellow lines. 
96

Figure 19: Suggested layout for workshop/repair area

In addition, notices shall be present, indicating:

• A warning notice – “Highly flammable”

• A warning notice – “Authorised personnel only”

• A warning symbol – Flammable gas

• A prohibition sign – No smoking or naked flames

Within both areas, there must be a dry powder fire extinguisher provided. Refrigerant cylinders should 

preferably be stored outside, and refrigerant cylinders being used should be kept in a dedicated flammable gas cage. 

4.5.3 Workshop safety system

The safety system for the workshop area primarily comprises gas detection and ventilation equipment. 

Permanent HC gas detectors should be used in the area to detect releases of HC refrigerant. Upon 

detection of gas at concentrations up to 20% of the LFL (i.e., less than 0.4% by volume), audible and 

visible (flashing light) alarms, automatic shut-off devices and extra mechanical ventilation should be 
97

activated. The HC gas detectors should be located at ground level and at either side of refrigerant 

handling equipment and places where a release may possibly occur. They should be placed down wind of 

natural and forced ventilation drafts to ensure their effectiveness. A single sensor at ground level will 

normally cover an area of no more than 30m2

, although a higher density is preferable. Gas detectors 

should be calibrated at regular intervals, as recommended by the manufacturer. As far as practicable, 

detector sensors should be protected from ingress of foreign material and substances that may “poison” a 

catalytic sensor, and be protected again mechanical damage. 

The mechanical ventilation system should be installed in all areas where HC refrigerants are being used. 

Normally, two stages of ventilation are required, in order to satisfy the following:

• To maintain the refrigerant/air concentrations less than 1000 ppm for HC refrigerants

• To remove dangerously high concentrations of refrigerant as quickly as possible to reduce the risk of 

fire or explosion

Inverted hoods should be positioned below work surfaces that are allocated for working on the system 

and that would necessitate refrigerant handling. At least 50% of the ventilation inlet flow should be 

taken from ground level and low points around areas of greatest leak potential. The airflow must be 

exhausted to the outside, specifically to a safe place away from sources of ignition, doors and windows, 

ventilation system inlets and occupied areas. Ventilation flow (i.e., pressure) detectors should be used in 

the ventilation ducting to monitor flow rates. The volume flow rate of the ventilation is calculated 

according to the quantity of refrigerant being used, and the quantity that could be released over a certain 

time. 

There should be emergency buttons positioned in convenient locations to allow operators to shut electrical equipment and initiate ventilation if necessary.

4.5.4 Working practices

Most incidents occur from human error, and therefore a set of safe working procedures must be developed. The focus of such procedures is to help avoid releases and ignition of HC refrigerants. All personnel that have access to the workshop area must have a thorough knowledge of these procedures. 

The general rules for workers in the workshop/repair areas are the same as those detailed within Part 6 

for service and maintenance activities. The focus of these rules is that on no account should naked 

flames (e.g. from welding torches) be used in the charging area.

4.5.5 Equipment for workshop area

The following provides a non-exhaustive list of service equipment, protective equipment and documentation normally used in workshop/repair areas. 

Service equipment

• Electronic leak detector (suitable for HCs)

• Soapy water (or leak detection spray cans)

• Refrigerant cylinders (R290, R600a, etc,)

• Refrigerant recovery cylinder

• Nitrogen (oxygen-free, dry nitrogen) cylinder

• Vacuum pump and vacuum gauge

• Refrigerant recovery machine (suitable for use with HCs)

• Venting hose

• Scales/electronic balance

• Gauge manifolds and hoses

• Hand tools including adjustable spanners, pliers, valve keys, etc
98

Documentation

• Flammable gas stickers

• R290, R600a, etc, refrigerant stickers

• Flammable gas signs

• “Do not enter” or equivalent signs

• Comparators for R290, R600a, etc

Protective equipment

• Fire extinguisher

• Gloves

• Goggles

4.6 CARRIAGE OF SYSTEMS

4.6.1 Introduction

Adherence to national and international regulations is necessary if refrigeration equipment containing a 

charge of HC refrigerant is to be transported. Particular requirements are generally determined by the 

equipment charge size. In general, the applicable regulations require adequate packaging and marking. 

Transport companies should also be consulted when transporting equipment containing HC refrigerants. HC refrigerants have United Nations number designation UN 1965, and refrigerating systems 

containing flammable refrigerants have United Nations number designation UN 3358. The following 

summarises various transportation regulations for equipment containing flammable gas. (It is noted that 

in line with other requirements, the refrigerant charge is applicable per refrigerant circuit.)

4.6.2 Transport by road

Transport by road and rail within Europe is covered by the Articles Dangereuses par Routier, 2009 

(ADR)14. Equipment containing less than 12 kg of flammable refrigerant is exempt from regulations for 

carriage provided it is protected by design (i.e. conforms to the appropriate safety standards). Where the 

charge is above 12 kg, the equipment is subject to the provisions for any receptacle containing flammable 

gases. 

The United Nations Model Regulations for Transport of Dangerous Goods, 2007 (TDGR)15 generally 

applies to transport by road and rail outside Europe. Equipment containing less than 12 kg is exempt 

from the regulations provided it is protected by design. For equipment containing over 12 kg, it must be 

subject to a pressure type-test of at least three times the maximum working pressure and comply with 

the packaging requirements detailed in these regulations. 

The requirements for ADR and UN Model Regulations are virtually the same.

4.6.3 Transport by sea

The International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code, 2008 (IMDG)16 prescribes requirements for 

transport of equipment by sea. Refrigerating machines containing less that 100 g of flammable refrigerant are not subject to the regulations. Otherwise packaging requires special marking. Refrigerating 

machines may be carried unpacked in crates or other appropriate over-packs, provided that the equipment has been pressure tested and designed so as to prevent the release of refrigerant during transport 

conditions. However, if the charge is less that 12 kg then these requirements do not apply.

14 http://www.unece.org/trans/danger/publi/adr/adr2009/09ContentsE.html 

15 http://www.unece.org/trans/danger/publi/unrec/rev15/15files_e.html 

16 http://www.imo.org/Safety/mainframe.asp?topic_id=158 
99

4.6.4 Transport by air

The International Civil Aviation Organisation/International Air Transport Association, 2009 (IATA)17 

prescribes the regulations for transport by air. This forbids transport of equipment containing more than 

0.1 kg in either passenger or cargo planes. If transport by air is necessary, the regulations do permit up to 

150 kg of flammable refrigerant to be carried by cylinder, so systems can be charged on-site.

4.7 STORAGE OF SYSTEMS

4.7.1 Introduction

RAC safety standards do not normally apply to storage of relevant products and equipment in warehouses and similar facilities. Therefore national regulations normally have to be applied. Generally these will 

indicate that a risk assessment should be carried out to help draw up requirements for the warehouse and 

also to check the planned set-up. Note that where companies contract out storage and warehousing 

facilities, they should also ensure that these companies also follow the appropriate requirements. 

The following Part provides a general indication as to the types of issues that should be addressed. In 

general, the approach illustrated in Figure 20 should be followed.

Figure 20: General approach to be followed for warehousing and storage of systems

Normally warehouses and storage facilities will contain a variety of materials that are hazardous, so 

appropriate measures should already be in place. However, in the case of handling RAC systems that use 

flammable refrigerants, additional considerations may be required. In particular, the following issues 

must be addressed, for which employer of the workers within the facility has ultimate responsibility for:

• Identify the current set-up (or proposed set-up in the case of new installations)

• Identify and become familiar with national regulations

• Carry out risk assessment

• Establish a major accident prevention policy

17 http://www.iata.org/ps/publications/dangerous-goods-regulations-dgr.htm 
100

• Introduce design changes and modifications to the facilities

• Develop and impose new procedures, related to general practice, shipping (in/out), record keeping, for 

damaged equipment and emergencies

• Re-consider and revise the risk assessment

Note that there must be periodic revisions of the risk assessment to ensure that any changes in equipment, practices, and experience are accounted for. 

In terms of national regulations if the total quantity of flammable material stored exceeds a certain 

quantity, local authorities may have to be informed, and similarly, the local authorities may have the be 

directly involved in the evaluation of risk assessments and development of procedures. 

4.7.2 Risk assessment

The set up and operation of the storage and warehousing facilities should be based largely on the findings and outcome of a risk assessment; since such facilities may differ widely amongst companies and 

locations, as well as variations in location regulations, it is not possible to provide specific sets of guidelines.

The risk assessment should be produced with respect to the hazards under consideration, that is:

• Thermal radiation from a warehouse fire

• Explosion hazards 

These hazards should be described in detail, bearing in mind that it is difficult to separate out the 

individual hazards posed from individual substances within a warehouse, therefore considering the 

combined effect. It is also important to ensure that the quantities of flammable material involved are also 

suitably determined. In this case, assessment should be based on the quantities of flammable material 

held on the site, being the greater of:

(a) The maximum quantity stored for a short period, even if that is less than one day, over a year taking 

account of seasonal demands and fluctuations in business activity

(b) The maximum quantity that is liable to be stored in the near future (1 year)

The risk assessment should be based largely on the various characteristics of the site and the equipment, 

such as:

• Site location

• Nature of the warehousing operation

• Nature and location of materials stored

• Areas set aside for segregated storage of flammable substances 

• Drainage systems

• Presence of neighbours with hazard potential 

• A description of nearby centres of population, such as residential areas and places of work

• The maximum number of persons on site and their likely locations.

• Total quantity of hazardous substances and the maximum individual quantities

• Type and characteristics of the packaging

This list is not exhaustive, and the more specific items listed in subsequent sections may also be considered. The methods for integrated safety and risk assessment detailed in Part 5 may be used to assist with 

such risk assessments, although specific guidance for this particular situation should also be sought.
101

Based on the outcome of the risk assessment, the employers and owners and operators of the site must 

provide the appropriate general safety measures to eliminate or control the risk of fire and explosion, to 

workers and other occupants. Such measures may include means of preventing the build-up of potentially flammable atmospheres, avoidance of potential SOIs, introduction of particular training, and 

emergency procedures. If after implementing such measures it is found that there is still a high risk, then 

the relevant requirements for hazardous areas may need to be considered.

4.7.3 Major accident prevention policy

Employers must ensure that the owners and operators of the storage facilities (be it themselves or another 

party) develop a comprehensive major accident prevention policy. This must be comprehensively documented, usually in coordination with local authorities. It must also be fully implemented and systems 

put in place to ensure that it is fully implemented. 

Emergency management must be based on well thought out and practised emergency procedures for all 

eventualities. Plans must cover all the possible major hazards, and be developed to include the following:

• Sites should be fitted with break-glass fire alarms in strategic locations 

• An alarm system that can be heard by all employees 

• There must be at least two emergency evacuation assembly areas

• Evacuation procedures must be well rehearsed 

• All grades of staff should be instructed not to hesitate to raise an alarm if a fire has broken out and it 

looks as if it might get out of control

• Immediately the alarm sounds the on-site fire fighting team should attempt to bring the fire under 

control

• If the fire is in a warehouse, the local fire service should be called immediately and the site fire alarm 

sounded

• There must be a designated well equipped first aid room

It is also mandatory to have pertinent information available for the fire services. This includes layout of 

premises, type and quantity of hazardous materials, location and type of fire fighting equipment and 

whom to contact in the case of an emergency.

4.7.4 Set-up of warehouses

The warehouse should be designed, constructed and fitted to a standard sufficient to store dangerous 

substances. Also the organisation should develop guidelines for the storage of the products or equipment 

under consideration. These should describe the conditions under which all hazardous substances are 

stored. The following list includes a number of aspects for consideration:

Safe design and construction of the building

• Constructed at a safe location

• Safe secure construction, considering layout and supporting equipment

• Appropriately sized fire compartments formed by block walls, constructed of essentially non-combustible materials (profiled metal/brick/block walls)

• Fire resistant doors

• No storage within basements or cellars and no direct access to below ground

• At least one emergency entrance point to the site

• Impervious floor to each warehouse

• High quality electrical installation

• Adequate level of natural or artificial lighting

• Security precautions, such as a secure perimeter fence, intruder alarms
102

• Bunding and drainage

• Site flood lighting/perimeter lighting

• Formation of zoned areas where applicable (ventilated and no sources of ignition)

Emergency systems

• Adequate means of emergency escape from all buildings

• Clear exit routes, no locking of exit doors 

• Fire precautions, detection and foam/water sprinkler systems, relevant alarm signals, smoke alarms

• Adequate fire fighting facilities

• Venting systems, consideration of additional emergency ventilation with gas detection 

• Fitted with in-rack sprinkler system

• Availability and access to personal protective equipment, and first aid, eye wash bottles, etc

• An emergency generator

Storage

• Packaging types

• Height of storage

• The storage process

• Segregation and separation procedures – minimum separation distances (e.g., 2 m)

• Fork-lift trucks used

Training to occupants

• Proper informing and training of all occupants and operators

• Permit to work on any part of the facility or its equipment

• Shipping-in and out procedures

Documentation and signage

• Hazardous substance data sheets

• Marking and safety signage

Operations

• Night time patrols/guards

• A gate office that is manned 24 hours/day 

• Arrangements to accompany visitors all the time they are on site

• No smoking policy

4.7.5 General procedures

Procedures must be developed in general, but also for activities involving shipping in and out, record 

keeping, for damaged equipment and for emergencies. The general procedures are necessary to ensure 

that the operation of the storage facilities is well maintained and that the general safety measures are not 

compromised in any way. General procedures should include the following:

• Maintaining good standards of housekeeping

• Weekly inspections and tests of fire sprinklers and other fire safety systems

• Good condition of pallets, racking and shelving

• Maintained fire exits, emergency routes, and lighting

• Presence of fire extinguishers

• Daily inspections of fork lift trucks and other transportation equipment

• Maintenance of personal protective and emergency equipment (showers, eyewash, etc)

• Appearance and presence of signs and marking

• Scheme for routine leak checking within packaging
103

• Training update for workers

• Record keeping (computer database) 

Other aspects will be applicable.

4.7.6 Shipping-in/-out procedures

For the handling of equipment as it leaves or arrives at the warehouse, consideration should be given to 

the following:

• Safe loading and unloading instructions

• The manner by which vehicles and fork-lift trucks are operated

• Dealing with damaged or deteriorated goods

• Labelling of goods

• Methods for shrink/stretch wrapping; ensuring the avoidance of static electricity

• Stock inspection

• Screening of packaging of leakage

• Presence and availability of handheld gas detectors

• Ensuring the vehicle driver has the relevant safety data or transport emergency cards

• Good signage, especially if multi-lingual workers may be present

It is sensible to analyse the actual practices and ensure that the developed procedures reflect the actual 

practice and do not inadvertently cause hindrances.

4.7.7 Record keeping procedures

A comprehensive record-keeping scheme should be introduced, with regards to the equipment being 

handled. The information on stock should include:

• Chemical names and brand names where applicable

• Hazard category

• Location

• Owner details

• Storage details

• Personnel/manning details

• Fire fighting equipment

• First aid equipment

• Sprinkler data

• List of other relevant equipment in the warehouse

• Details of electrical installations

• Drainage details

• Potential hazards to fire fighters

• On site risks/hazards to buildings, plant, equipment etc in the event of fire

• Off-site risks/hazards to people and the built and natural environment

The above information should be designed to assist fire fighting operations in the event of a major fire, 

enhance accident management and facilitate mitigation of its consequences, to staff, the public and the 

environment

4.7.8 Damaged equipment procedures

It is possible that systems will be damaged at some point, whether it is from within the storage facility or 

occurring prior to receipt into the facility. In either case, it is essential to have proper procedures in place 

to deal with leaking systems. In order to support this, companies must hold the appropriate equipment 

for dealing with it. The written procedures for dealing with releases should include for:
104

• Recovery of refrigerant

• Storage of recovered refrigerant

• Details of arrangements for work areas

• Special control of sources of ignition within the relevant areas

Workers who deal with such leakage should have access to:

• Comprehensive data on the hazards

• Appropriate personal protective equipment (safety goggles, etc)

• Fire extinguishers

• HC gas detectors

Damaged or leaking equipment should be stored in a designated area/building well away from the main 

warehouse that is well ventilated, equipped with appropriate security features and has segregated areas to 

ensure compliance with the segregation rules for hazardous substances (the relevant section in Part 4.5.3 

and Part 6 should be referred to).