12. Emergency shutdown procedures, including precautions to be observed in
case of a breakdown or leak, shall be displayed on a conspicuous card
located as near as possible to the refrigerant compressor.
Following recommendations on `Emergencies in Refrigerating Room' that are not part of
the standard. They are provided for information only. In brief they are:
1. If a refrigerant detection system activates an alarm and the personnel working in the
machinery room are not provided with and trained to use respiratory protection
equipment, they must leave the room immediately.
2. Provide a digital readout of the detector reading outside the machinery room.
3. Provide personnel with appropriate respiratory protection in accordance with all
applicable local and national regulations.
4. After donning the respiratory protection (if necessary), personnel may reenter the
machinery room to fix leaks.
5. Coordinate emergency procedures with the local emergency response agencies in
advance.
The standard states, donning respiratory protection is a last-resort option under most
industrial hygiene regimens; it is preferable to provide engineering controls to reduce
refrigerant concentration to tolerable levels by ventilating the machinery room
automatically when a detector is activated. In many cases, this may be entirely
adequate to reduce the concentration, and respiratory protection may not be needed.
Above emergency procedures is an example only and there are many other
possibilities. This example is given when a facility that wishes to use its own technicians
to handle minor problems in the refrigerating machinery room.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Implement the newest ASRAE 15 requirements on current projects under design
and construction.
2. VA prefers boilers and chillers installation in separate rooms.
DESIGN ALERT NO. 8 DATED OCTOBER 3, 1994 ON THE SAME SUBJECT IS DELETED.
LINKS TO FM TECHNICAL INFORMATION LIBRARY (TIL):
http://www.va.gov/facmgt/standard
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Contact Satish Sehgal at 202-565-5032, Facilities Quality
Service (181A).
23 March 2004
FM-181A-DA-119
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