The actions taken during the initial response can contain the incident or allow it to escalate rapidly . It ’ s all about having a plan in place and everyone knowing what to do .

When an event starts to escalate , your emergency plan is going to identify key controllers , their roles and relationship with everyone else in the emergency response structure . Without doing the required yearly Site Emergency Response Training , the response teams will most likely be slow to react and this will allow the event to escalate . Even after you have made the phone call for help , you may well have to deal with the worst of an incident before the emergency services arrive . Make sure your site emergency teams are well trained and prepared . Chaos is your worst enemy in an incident .

The emergency controller plays a key role in any incident . They are the person that pulls all the response teams together with information flowing up and down the chain of command . It ’ s their responsibility to dictate which of the assembly points to

use , to contact the emergency services , to keep contact with all the different controllers and to brief the emergency services when they arrive on site . It ’ s a key role but , as all appreciate , the designated emergency commander may not be available when an incident transpires .

This is the beauty of a well-defined emergency plan . All the necessary information is available for a deputy to take command until the designated emergency controller arrives on site to take control . The plan must be designed to cascade upwards and downwards . Whoever is the most senior person on site when an incident occurs will assume the role of emergency controller until the actual controller arrives on site .

One of the big issues around response time is how do you dress and what level of personal protective equipment ( PPE ) should you wear ? The general feeling is if there is a dense cloud around it could be an aerosol – that being the case , it will most likely have liquid particles entrained . You do not want to be in that unless you have the proper level B set of protective clothing complete with a BA set . Any time you think that you may come into contact with liquid ammonia it calls for full Level B PPE during the response .

However , there are times when a good

pair of overalls , gloves , safety boots and a full-face mask will suffice for a ‘ snatch and grab ’ rescue response . Gary Smith of ASTI ( Ammonia Safety Training Institute from California ) has in the past submitted that for short durations , concentrations of up to 20 000ppm can be possible , but concentrations around 5 000ppm are more acceptable . Learn how to breathe properly while wearing a face mask and a BA set – it could save your life . However , as soon as you get a hint of ammonia in your mask , get the heck out of there – when ammonia starts to saturate your canister it is not long until the cartridge becomes super saturated . Always have a spare new canister on hand as a replacement when you get to a safe area .

For those of you that don ’ t know , there is a legal requirement that all hazardous material plants have a SANS 1514:2018 Emergency Plan . But the problem with these types of plans is that they tend to be bottom drawer material and that ’ s where they live . Now the authorities understand that it ’ s just not good enough to have a document without training and are calling for , at least , a once-yearly exercise of the plan . Anytime we do yearly training , we find that the emergency team members have changed or forgotten what they did last year and its worrying when we

Andrew Perks is a subject expert in ammonia refrigeration . Since undertaking his apprenticeship in Glasgow in the 1960s he has held positions of contracts engineer , project engineer , refrigeration design engineer , company director for a refrigeration contracting company and eventually owning his own contracting company and low temperature cold store . He is now involved in adding skills to the ammonia industry , is merSETA accredited and has written a variety of unit standards for SAQA that define the levels to be achieved in training in our industry .

look at the condition of the site PPE . Last time we did a full-scale mock incident response we noted that the responders had issues with fitting their BA sets and as such used up their air too quickly . That ’ s why we need to do the exercise yearly .

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Development Organisation ( UNIDO ) is a specialised agency of the United Nations with a unique mandate to promote , dynamise and accelerate industrial development . Their mandate is reflected in Sustainable Development Goal ( SDG ) which is to “ Build resilient infrastructure , promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation ”, but UNIDO ’ s activities contribute to all the Sustainable Development Goals . 1

It is in SARACCA members ’ best interest to observe these sustainable development goals since UNIDO endeavours to freeze consumption of Hydrofluorocarbons ( HFCs ) by 2024 to meet the consumption baseline . This will be followed by reducing HFC consumption by 10 %, 30 % and 50 % in 2029 , 2035 and 2045 respectively . The phase down is ahead of target , mainly due to the total reduction of R141 use in the foam blowing industry .

The South African government has prepared a HFCs Management Strategy draft which outlines the obligations of institutional stakeholders which serve to comply with the Kigali Amendment ( an international agreement to gradually reduce the consumption and production of

The South African timeframe encourages a period between 2021 to 2030 in which stakeholders must tackle the phase down and phase out of HFCs respectively . The phase out of Ozone

Depleting Substances is regulated under the Air Quality Act of 2004 which covers hydrochlorofluorocarbons ( HCFCs ) but not hydrofluorocarbons ( HCFs ). New legislation must be drafted to supplement

existing legislation to regulate , control and monitor the import , export and allocation of HFCs .

The refrigeration and air conditioning industries are lagging in their phase down , mainly due to economic constraints . The retrofitting of plants and systems is costly and clients are reluctant to spend money in a constrained economy and the cost of load shedding .

hydrofluorocarbons ( HFCs )).

UNIDO endeavours to freeze consumption of Hydrofluorocarbons ( HFCs ) by 2024 .