ARC visits regional permit holders

In the past six months, engagement officers from the Australian Refrigeration Council (ARC) have visited regional and remote locations to perform permit holder and education visits.

Visits were made to Darwin and surrounding areas (81 visits); to Toowoomba and surrounding areas in Queensland (71 visits); to Coffs Harbour and surrounding areas in New South Wales (71 visits); and to Launceston and surrounding areas in Tasmania (72 visits – all to permit holders).

The visits covered industry sectors including stationary, split system, automotive, wholesalers, refrigeration and air conditioning end-of-life businesses, training organisations.

According to the ARC, there were three main areas of non-compliance. First, refrigerant handling licence holders were not working to the automotive code of practice. Code of practice booklets can be downloaded free of charge from the ARC website.

Second, refrigerant trading authorisation (RTA) holders did not keep up-to-date records of refrigerant purchased, sold and recovered. Free templates and guides are also available from the ARC website.

And finally, some businesses did not display their RTA number on advertising. This includes vehicle advertising, business stationery, websites and phone book listings.

In the coming months, the ARC is planning to visit the Goldfields, south and mid-west, the Great Southern region and north-west Western Australia; Morisset and Gosford in NSW; Mildura, Ballarat, Mansfield and Geelong in Victoria; and Mackay, Bundaberg and Toowoomba in Queensland.