The manual provides essential industry guidance for owners, designers, installers and operators of vapour compression refrigerating systems that use any of the Group A1 refrigerants, including HFC and HFC blends.

The Safety Code covers properties of refrigerants, decommissioning, testing and maintenance as well as design issues, with useful appendices such as typical schedules for inspection and maintenance, system register details, machinery rooms, definitions and an updated list of relevant standards. 

Downloadable from www.ior.org.uk, the Code has been prepared by the IOR Technical Committee as a reference source and guide to the interpretation of current safety standards such as BS EN378:2016, and legal requirements such as F-Gas, PED, and PSSR.

It is available free for IOR members to download. Non members can purchase a PDF download at a cost of £48 including VAT.

The IOR publishes four Safety Codes of Practice specific to refrigerant type. Currently under revision and for reissue in April 2018, the remaining Codes are as follows:

• Flammable Lower Toxicity Refrigerants Group A2L, A2 and A3
• Carbon Dioxide R744
• Ammonia R717 

The IOR website also provides Guidance Notes on specific issues, as well as practical bulletins for service engineers.

IOR policy is to promote the responsible use of refrigerants, for the public benefit. A responsible refrigerant-use policy places a high emphasis on the elimination of leak sources, the efficiency of the overall system and the life-cycle cost of ownership, and assumes compliance with legal obligations.