Page 12 - Climate Control News Magazine Feb 2021

News
AC explodes, worker injured
A VEHICLE AIR conditioner exploded last month causing serious burns to a mine work- er in Queensland.
The worker was injured while driving the truck in mid-January.
The accident caused serious burns to the worker’s face, hands and chest.
His eyes were protected from the blast by safety glasses.
The explosion originated in the truck’s air- conditioning (AC) unit, which was charged with a refrigerant containing propane and isobutane instead of complying with the orig- inal equipment manufacturer (OEM)’s re- quirement, which specifies the use of R134a refrigerant.
According to the Queensland Mines In- spectorate, the AC was not certified to use the hydrocarbon refrigerant, adding that the per- sonnel servicing the AC did not hold Queens- land Gas Work licences for working with the refrigerant.
As a result, the release of hydrocarbon re- frigerant from the AC into the cab created an explosive atmosphere, which was ignited by an unidentified source.
“A similar incident occurred in 2014 when a drill operator in a coal mine suffered burns to the face, hands and torso in an explosion after hydrocarbon refrigerant leaked from the AC system and ignited,” the inspectorate stated.
An investigation is underway.
The inspectorate urged site senior execu- tives to inspect all refrigeration plant and equipment including AC units on mobile plants to verify compliance with OEM guid- ance.
- With Safe to Work
Queensland Mines said the AC unit didn’t comply with OEM requirements.
Young people accounted for 45 per cent of the decline in employment but comprise just 16 per cent of the population.
Young people hit hardest by pandemic
CLIMATECONTROLNEWS.COM.AU
APPRENTICES HAVE BEEN hit the hardest by COVID-19 with job losses mostly directed at school leavers and those under 25 years of age.
A recent report by the Mitchell Institute has highlighted the disproportionate impact of job losses on the young.
“Young people accounted for around 45 per cent of the total decline in employment in May 2020 despite comprising just 16 per cent of the population,” the report said referring to figures from the National Skills Commission.
The report also pointed to the danger of what they term ‘occupational scarring’. This refers to the long term effect on young people who enter a flat labour market.
They take jobs below their skill level or part- time jobs to gain a foothold, and take longer to move up the employment ladder.
A critical aspect of the effect of COVID-19 is the alarming growth of those young people not in employment or education (NEET).
Completion rates for apprenticeships and traineeships also continue to worsen.
Data from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) released in July 2020 show national completion rates have de- clined to 49.1 per cent for all occupations and 43.8 per cent for trades. Individual completion rates are 56.2 per cent for trade occupations and 57.7 per cent for non-trade occupations.
Just last month the Ai Group released a back- ground paper entitled “An apprenticeship model for the modern economy,” which examines a range of options to promote apprenticeships to young people.
“Opportunities for vacancies are linked to the outlook for each business, and the uncertainty generated by the pandemic has impacted heavily on this. If vacancies remain low for the coming months or years, this will not only impact on fu- ture skills shortages but will severely limit career possibilities for school leavers and other young people,” the paper states.
“For many years, employers have lamented the paucity of good candidates for apprentice- ship vacancies. If apprenticeships are truly val- ued, how can they be made more attractive to young people?
“When an employer weighs up the cost of em- ploying an apprentice, financial considerations are not the only criteria. However, cost is always an im- portant factor, as it is with any business decision.
“Over time, the financial equation of weighing up incentives against wages, enrolment fees, du- rations and supervision costs, has made the em- ployment of apprentices less attractive.
“Ai Group believes that incentives need to be revisited in acknowledgement that costs have in- creased markedly over 20 years and to restore some balance to the financial equation.”
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