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where they have lost their jobs due to the economic environment or elected to start their own small businesses . Safety around the appropriate use and handling of refrigerant is essential when working on any HVACR system or during recovery - for the people involved and the environment . The new safe handling training framework further gives these individuals the necessary skills required for the handling of natural refrigerants ( some of which are highly flammable ) that is increasingly being deployed in the commercial , industrial and domestic markets ”, says Grant Laidlaw , chief executive officer of ACRA .
The first phase of the project was aimed at the ‘ informal sector ’ to firstly raise awareness around the importance of best practices with refrigerants , and also with the function to limit the amount of incidents that occur in this space ( that is mostly not even heard about ). Interestingly , quite a number of the selected participants admitted to knowing of , or being directly involved in , an accident with components or systems , which could essentially result in a lifethreatening situation .
The second phase of the project will see another 1600 qualifying candidates take up the training , and participation from both the formal and informal sectors . Although the primary focus is on the latter , the idea of inclusion of the formal sector is to get the entire industry up to speed , and the same standard to be applied throughout .
As part of the programme , UNIDO as the sponsor , also provides the funding for all required personal protective equipment , travel costs and accommodation for participants that live too far away from the training provider to travel through each day . In addition , all successful candidates will be registered with SARACCA and SAQCC gas and be issued with refrigerant safe handling cards . This all with the objective to ensure the needs of the participants are met and that the programme achieves a successful result .
Feedback from the students , the lectures and even from the DFFE - that regularly comes to check up on the training progress - has so far been excellent .
“ The selection process of the candidates that have come through has been really good . The mix of skills and knowledge the groups have vary from very good all the way to very junior or the candidates have a lot to still learn . Sometimes these candidates have struggled for example with calculations or math elements , but they are now equipped with formulas and methods to get this right . This is a particularly happy emotional time , for me anyway , when I see in the student ’ s eyes that they have got the concept of what we are teaching them . This programme has further allowed the lecturers to identify and correct previous incorrect execution of tasks that can be extremely dangerous . I am confident to say that each student taking part in this programme has definitely learnt something and this can be judged by the positive feedback . A programme like this certainly adds value to the entire industry because the learners are now far better equipped to avoid dangerous actions for themselves and the environment , and have had the opportunity to become more familiar with hydrocarbons ”, says Manuel Grota – ACRA lecturer .
The rollout of this programme has other further benefits over the safety and environmental aspects which include industry-wide awareness of the risks or dangers involved in people working on air conditioning and refrigeration systems that are not competent to do so ( and potential consequences ), but importantly those that qualify through this programme now become more employable and add value to the sector through much needed skills . RACA
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RACA Journal I January 2022 www . hvacronline . co . za