Refrigerant substitution ‘puts lives at risk’

Lauren Wilson and Joe Kelly
November 05, 2012
The Australian

LABOR has been warned lives could be at risk from companies substituting expensive non-flammable refrigerants with cheaper, but potentially explosive, hydrocarbons that are exempt from its carbon tax.

The executive director of Refrigerants Australia, Steve Anderson, has written to Climate Change Minister Greg Combet, warning him of the “extremely serious” risk posed by companies seeking to minimise costs by switching gasses to avoid price hikes associated with the carbon tax.

Mr Anderson said the letter sent on June 6, about three weeks before the Gillard government’s carbon tax came into effect, had not been answered.

In the letter, he says Labor’s carbon reduction policy, “brings with it serious occupational health and safety risks for the air-conditioning and refrigeration industry”.

“With the price of the most commonly used non-flammable refrigerants set to rise by around 500 per cent, we are sure to see attempts to substitute flammable hydrocarbon refrigerants, as they are not subject to the carbon tax.”

Mr Anderson told Mr Combet that most equipment in Australia was not designed for hydrocarbon refrigerants.

He said a cool-store retrofitted with a flammable hydrocarbon triggered New Zealand’s largest industrial fire in the town of Tamahere.

Mr Anderson told The Australian the risk of automotive or small cool-store businesses using the cheaper products is not new, but the risk had increased as a consequence of non-flammable refrigerants spiking in cost from July 1.

VASA, the peak body for automotive air-conditioning, electrical and cooling technicians, has also expressed significant concerns about the use of flammable hydrocarbon in car air-conditioning units.

VASA technical representative Mark Mitchell said the carbon tax had made the sales pitch for flammable refrigerant manufacturers even stronger.

“They now have a distinct price advantage,” he said.

Opposition climate spokesman Greg Hunt has also written to Mr Combet urging him to address the safety concerns of the refrigeration industry.

“(The industry) believe there has been inadequate consideration of the ramifications for such a sudden change where there is a lack of standards, licensing and training,” Mr Hunt says in his letter. “As a result, lives are at risk.”

A government factsheet warns there are hazards associated with lower global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants, including hydrocarbons, which have “hazard characteristics”.

However, it also states that alternative refrigerants can be used safely and should be only used in suitable equipment.

A spokesman for Mr Combet said the government took safety “seriously” and the Environment Department maintained a close relationship with industry groups and relevant state and territory regulatory bodies.