Page 6 - Climate Control News Dec-Jan 2020

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World-first study leads to safety guide
A NEW GUIDE ON HOW TO WORK SAFELY ON VEHICLES WHERE IT IS KNOWN OR SUSPECTED THAT FLAMMABLE REFRIGERANTS MAY BE PRESENT IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD.
The project could not have been completed without the assistance of Queensland-based VASA member workshops Gympie Auto Air, Mr Cool and SuperCool Southport.
VASA president, Ian Stangroome, said that since 2013, car manufacturers have been switch- ing to more environmentally friendly A2L-rated mild-flammability refrigerants in new models that leave the factory with air-conditioning sys- tems properly engineered to minimise any flam- mability-related risks.
“An issue that has emerged in recent years is the charging of A3-rated high-flammability re- frigerants into existing automotive air-condi- tioning systems that were never designed to mit- igate these elevated risks, in some cases without proper labelling,” he said.
“There has until now been no properly re- searched advice on the safest way to work with vehicles using flammable refrigerants – espe- cially those which have been retrofitted – from a practical, OH&S and legal point of view.
“We are very proud to be publishing this rigor- ously researched safety guide for the benefit of all automotive technicians in Australia, who will at some point inevitably encounter a vehicle charged with flammable refrigerant.”
Download the guide at
https://www.vasa.org.au/wp-content/up- l o a d s / 2 0 1 9 / 0 7/ f l a m m a b l e s _ g u i d e _ W E B . p d f
THE DOCUMENT IS the result of a ground- breaking project between Refrigerant Reclaim Australia, automotive thermal and electrical trade association VASA and GHD Engineering, to study the management of health and safety risks associated with the use of flammable gas-
what to do if a system contains a flammable re- frigerant classified A3 (high flammability) or A2L (mild flammability).
Handling mixtures of non-flammable and flammable refrigerants is also covered.
At the end of the document are a workshop safety checklist and risk assessment work- sheet to use when flammable refrigerants are encountered.
During the early research stage of this pro- ject, it became clear to GHD Engineering that it would have to conduct a series of world-first studies to establish the number of vehicles con- taining flammable refrigerant that can occupy a workshop and safe exclusion zones for venting and vacuum pumping of A3 and A2L refriger- ants, or in a hose leak scenario.
VASA president, Ian Stangroome.
es, including refrigerants, in an automotive work- shop environment.
It covers topics includ- ing legal matters related to refrigerant classifica- tions, dangerous goods, work health and safety, hazardous areas and working with flammable refrigerants, including
Five-day invoicing from 2020
FROM JANUARY 1, 2020, Commonwealth Govern- ment agencies will start paying e-Invoices within five days or pay interest on any late payments.
The five day e-Invoicing payment policy will apply to contracts valued up to $1 million, where a supplier and a Commonwealth agency both use the interna- tionally established framework for delivering and re- ceiving invoices in an electronic form.
Minister for Finance, Mathias Cormann, said e-Invoicing will improve business cash flow
through faster payment times and deliver signifi- cant benefits and efficiencies to suppliers and the government by reducing transaction costs and handling errors.
The government has passed legislation to enable Australia to implement the internationally-recog- nised framework for e-Invoicing.
A maximum 20 day payment term will con- tinue to apply in instances where e-Invoicing is notused.
Minister for Finance, Mathias Cormann
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