Melbourne, Australia: Kicking off in February 2017, AIRAH and Standards Australia will present a seminar series on the recently adopted and published refrigeration safety and environmental standards, according to a press release issued by AIRAH. The seminars, it explained, will provide an introduction and overview to the main changes affecting the HVACR industry.

The press release revealed that the following standards will be put under the microscope: AS/NZS/ISO 817:2016 Refrigerants – Designation and safety classification, which replaces AS/NZS 1677.1:1998; and AS/NZS 5149 Refrigerating systems and heat pumps – Safety and environmental requirements: Parts 1 to 4, which replaces AS/NZS 1677.2:1998.

The Institute noted that each of these new adoptions has had major modifications and revisions over the previous AS/NZS1677 series, and are critical in the transition to low-global-warming potential (GWP) refrigerants.

The seminar series, the press release said, will be presented by Kevin Lee, M.AIRAH, who has nearly 40 years of local and overseas experience in HVACR manufacturing, product design and regulatory compliance. Lee, the press release revealed, is a former chair of the Standards Australia technical committee on refrigeration safety requirements, and represented Australia as a technical expert on the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) technical committee for refrigeration safety. Futhermore, it added that Lee was also chair of the joint industry and government task group that authored AIRAH’s Flammable Refrigerants Safety Guide.

“All stakeholders who have an interest in the HVAC&R industry should familiarise themselves with the new refrigeration safety and environmental requirements,” said Tony Gleeson, M.AIRAH., CEO of AIRAH. “Compliance with these standards can help everyone in the HVAC&R supply chain demonstrate duty of care. I strongly encourage system designers, installers, owners, and those involved in operation and maintenance to educate themselves on these important new international minimum safety and environmental benchmarks.”

AIRAH provided the following scheduled of the seminar:

• Brisbane – Tuesday, February 14
• Canberra – Wednesday, February 15
• Sydney – Thursday, February 16
• Hobart – Tuesday, February 21
• Melbourne – Wednesday, February 22
• Perth – Wednesday, March 1
• Adelaide – Thursday, March 2

AIRAH said further information is available at www.airah.org.au/seminars