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Policy
ARC accreditation scheme in the spotlight In a continued effort to up-skill Australia’s HVAC&R industry, the Australian Refrigeration Council (ARC) has put in place a new accreditation scheme that includes natural refrigerants. Glenn Evans, CEO, ARC – By Devin Yoshimoto
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n 1 July, the Australian Refrigeration Council launched a new accreditation scheme for technicians, which includes natural refrigerants.
The new scheme is separate from the existing licensing structure and adds guidelines for natural refrigerant training in Australia. “What the ARC are doing is stepping outside their historical position, and embarking on putting in place an accreditation scheme which incorporates key refrigerants that are not currently covered by the existing Ozone Depleting Substances and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (ARCTick) licence scheme,” said Glenn Evans, chief executive officer of the Australian Refrigeration Council, at the ATMOsphere Australia 2017 conference in Sydney on 2 May. “Initially, the refrigerants we’re looking at to be part of the scheme include: hydrocarbons, CO 2 , ammonia, and class A2/A2L refrigerants,” he said. The ARC has been appointed as the RAC Industry Board, which administers the Australian refrigeration and air conditioning licensing scheme on behalf of the Australian government, with over 85,000 licenced individuals and businesses Australia-wide. The goal of the new scheme is to help Australian industry to respond to new refrigerants that are now being adopted in response to the country’s HFC phase-down.
“[It] will provide an up-skilling pathway for technicians and assist in new technology and refrigerant uptake,” said Evans. The ARC has registered a great deal of interest in the new accreditation scheme from technicians who would like to familiarise themselves with new refrigerant types. Evans hopes the announcement will serve an important role in bringing the wider industry together to better prepare for the coming refrigeration technology changes. “We’ve had hundreds of phone calls to the ARC saying, ‘when are you going to do this?’ So, there is a real grassroots swell demanding this training,” says Evans. “Hopefully [the technicians] will be better positioned to actually work in this field and support the uptake of new technology,” he adds. DY
There is a real grassroots swell, demanding this training. – Glenn Evans, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Refrigeration Council
Accelerate Australia & NZ
Winter 2017