Neil Everitt discusses the forthcoming F-Gas assessments with John Ellis, md of Ellis Training and one of the people at the forefront of structuring the new assessment
WITH the F-Gas assessment likely to affect as many as 40,000 engineers, air conditioning and refrigeration companies are being advised to plan a sensible, structured timetable to send their engineers through the scheme - and not to leave it until the last minute.

In theory, all engineers need to have attained this qualification by January of next year but delays in implementation of the regulation have meant that the earliest any assessment centre will be up and running is July of this year, making it impossible to meet that date.

However, there are provisions in the regulation to allow member states to grant an extension up to July 2011 for existing personnel to obtain the new qualification. ACRIB is pressing the UK government to ensure this extension is granted. Even then it will require, on average, more than 1,000 engineers per month to go through the assessment process.

As yet, it is impossible to know how many assessment centres will be available or whether the colleges will want to get involved.

Every approved assessment centre will have to have at least two qualified assessors with the necessary knowledge and there will be specific equipment required.

Mandatory
The announcement in January of details of the mandatory assessment scheme, although not unexpected, goes much further than the current refrigerant handling scheme under the C&G 2078 or CITB assessments.

'I have heard people say that as long as you have safe handling and brazing you will be OK,' says John Ellis of Ellis Training, one of those heavily involved with ACRIB in structuring the assessment. 'I can assure people who think that, that they won't.'

According to informed opinion, the length of time required to get through the assessment will depend on the experience and knowledge of the individual but could last anything from half-a-day to five days. It will include a range of observed practical assessments and a multiple choice examination which will test the underpinning principles.

Training
John Ellis has already warned that it will be tough to comply with but it could have been a lot worse without the efforts of ACRIB and DEFRA. Initial proposals for assessment from the European air conditioning and refrigeration association AREA went far beyond the principles of preventing leaks. ACRIB has tried to minimise the requirements and at the same time satisfy the requirements of the regulation.

'We can foresee that a lot of experienced people will be able to just turn up and pass the exam but most are going to have to need to do some training,' says John Ellis. 'While we have some superb engineers out there, there are also many who have not had the chance to learn the basic principles.'

But how many engineers are we talking about? 'There are only 600 per year going through NVQs but 29,000 have C&G safe handling certificates. In addition the split ac industry has been growing enormously, and what is the number of people working on those systems?'

Whatever the actual numbers, John Ellis is confident that there will be enough assessment centres provided people don't leave it until the last minute to gain the necessary assessment.
'We have to impress on people that however good or bad this turns out to be it is a mandatory requirement and they need to plan to do it in a structured way. That way they won't come up against a deadline.'

There are benefits to the industry. As IoR president Jane Gartshore said last month 'F-Gas training will improve standards of competence throughout the workforce.'
A sentiment which is echoed by John Ellis: 'Once people get their head around it they will see how beneficial it is to the industry overall. Leak prevention is not rocket science.
'F-Gas is also about systems running efficiently. We will see less leaks and more efficient systems.'

'Huge task'
Commenting on the new F-Gas regulations, Mike Creamer, managing director of specialist training provider Business Edge, said 'Until the new assessment is in place sometime in the summer, we expect a rush for refresher courses in the fundamentals of acr technology, refrigerant handling and pipework and brazing.

'The new assessment will, for the first time, test an engineer's understanding of basic theory and the underlying principles behind refrigeration and air conditioning systems. This could catch people out,' he added.

Like Ellis Training, Business Edge is planning to be one of the centres offering the new course as soon as it is agreed.

'The new requirements will apply to all engineers who handle refrigerant or 'break into' refrigeration and air conditioning plant as part of installation and maintenance work. It will affect refrigeration and air conditioning contractors, installers and service engineers, as well as some hands-on maintenance staff employed by end users.'

Mike Creamer added: 'Effectively, it means that the whole of the UK workforce handling acr systems will now have to be re-certified. This is a huge task.'