AC exam to set cooling standards

Launched on April 12, at the Hilton Trinidad, St Ann’s, it is one of the more recent steps taken by the National Ozone Unit to help the country comply with the Montreal Protocol.

Dr Marissa Gowrie, deputy environmental manager and national ozone officer in the Environmental Policy and Planning Division of the Ministry of Planning and Development, explained, “Several countries came together in the 1980s and agreed to phase out ozone depleting gases but the gases affect the ozone differently... Trinidad and Tobago signed on in August 1989.” Some of the gases include refrigerants such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydro chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs); the fumigant Methyl bromide; Halon, a fire suppressant; and more.

She noted the industry overlapped with many other sectors including tourism; the storage and transport of fish, meats, fruit and vegetables; the industrial sector; the medical sector with respect to operating theatres, the storing of vaccines, and even the morgue.

Gowrie told Sunday Newsday the Air-conditioning and Refrigeration Industry Association (ARIA) noticed a lack of professionalism and accountability in the industry. The organisation felt it critical to address these issues given the various sectors it services and so approached the ministry.

“For many years ARIA has been voicing that they were seeing a lot of practices they would not endorse. Because of the very rapid changes in technology and refrigerants, a technician needs to be kept abreast, must keep themselves current, and, let’s face it, as a consumer you assume the technician would give you the best technical advice because you don’t know better.” Therefore, the Ministry of Planning, ARIA, the National Training Agency (NTA), and other training schools created a professional certification for the Refrigeration and AC Industry.

A Body of Knowledge was developed as a text of basic technical knowledge a technician is required to know and is available on the NTA website and the National Ozone Unit’s ozone blog. “It was developed in a manner to appreciate that there are people who may have never gone to a formal school to learn the trade. The Body of Knowledge is aligned to what they should know.” When the online exam is written, the technician would get the result immediately.

For people who are not computer literate, the NTA has a system where a proxy would sit with the person and provide assistance. Those who pass are then certified, recognising that “they are at a certain level, and do a certain quality of work.” They are then issued a license that is valid for three years.

“In addition, NTA has developed, and are developing further, something called Skills TNT. If someone comes to you and says, ‘I’m an air conditioning technician,’ you can log on to Skills TNT and see reviews of their work, if it is they are in fact registered, similar to what Ebay has for sellers.

It gives a level of power to the consumer as well as another level of accountability to the sector.” In order to renew the license, the technician is expected to present a portfolio of work done over the previous three years to the NTA, a record of how they have kept themselves current, and reviews from customers.

“There are things that a technician can do to keep current that may not cost him any money but just shows due diligence on the part of the technician given the fact that this is such a dynamic field and will continue to be a dynamic field.” Gowrie said one reason the field was so dynamic was because of the addition of alternative refrigerants, changes in the law, as well as changes in the Montreal Protocol. She noted that in October 2016, Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol stated that one alternative refrigerant, a hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), would be phased out because, while it was not damaging to the ozone, it was a green house gas, causing climate change and global warning.

To assist technicians, she said the National Ozone Unit hosted free webinars (online seminar), which they would try to develop on a more regular basis in order to provide free training, as well as keep technicians up-to-date on what was happening in the air conditioning and refrigeration field.