Responsible Refrigeration number 49
The registering of air conditioning and refrigeration installers and artisans is a process managed
by SARACCA and SAQCC Gas. To date only approximately 2400 practitioners have been
registered out of an estimated 6000 to 7000 people working in the air conditioning and
refrigeration industry. I addition there are a large number who were registered and who have
failed to renew their registration. Some say they are never asked to show their cards so why be
registered? These are people who are directly working on the pressure portion of the
refrigeration circuit and have an influence on the safety of the installation. It is the responsibility
of the registered practitioner to show their card without being asked. The regulations refer to an
authorised person, this means a practitioner who is registered as competent within the scope of
refrigeration work for which SAQCC Gas is approved and mandated by the Chief Inspector of
Labour to register that person The practitioner must inform the client, with pride, that he is
aware of the regulations and that he is competent to do the work.
Pressure Equipment Regulation 2; specifically states that the regulations shall apply to the
design, manufacture, operation, repair, modification, maintenance, inspection and testing of
pressure equipment with a design pressure equal to or greater than 50 kPa, in terms of the
relevant health and safety standard in the Regulations under section 44 of the OH & S Act. The
numbers of active registered persons are pathetically small considering that registration has
been in force since 2009.
SAQCC Gas has the mandate that requires that persons who work on air conditioning or
refrigeration or fuel gas or compressed gas systems and who are not formally registered with
SAQCC Gas are not complying with the OHS Act and Pressure Equipment Regulations and could
be legally challenged by law. Non registered persons working on gas systems raise serious
concerns for users, clients and for themselves from a legal, financial and insurance perspective.
If you are a user of gas or a gas system or air conditioning and /or refrigeration system you need
to ensure that only an authorised card carrying gas practitioner is working on your installation and
that should this not be the case, report this practitioner and contractor to the SAQCC Gas for
further action. The cards issued by SAQCC Gas to Practitioners are classified by the area
competence and gas type as follows;
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Authorised Refrigeration Gas Practitioner as an installer or as an artisan
Authorised Natural Gas Practitioner for domestic, commercial or industrial systems
Authorised Compressed Gas Practitioner for the specific gas being used
Authorised Liquid Petroleum Gas Practitioner for domestic, commercial or industrial systems
As stated above there are two particular categories of competence for those persons working on
installation and/or maintenance of refrigeration and air conditioning equipment. These are divided
into those who might be termed as semi-skilled installers who do not yet have a trade qualification
and those who are artisans by qualification of a trade test and experience who have done the safe
handling of refrigerants course and are registered.
It is a requirement that a Certificate of Conformity and many contractors and installers are finding
that the end users are asking for a CoC. There have been a number of installations which have
been found to be badly installed and the client/user cannot get satisfaction because the installer
was not registered and there was no way of taking action against the person except to report the
transgression to the Department of Labour for the investigation and legal action.
It is in everyone’s interest to become competent and compliant with registration and to offer a
quality service through being registered as an authorised refrigeration gas practitioner in terms of
the Pressure Equipment Regulations.