The United Nations Refrigerant Driving Licence (RDL) which was created to improve worldwide safety standards in the air conditioning and refrigeration industries, was launched in Bangkok, Thailand yesterday.
The licence is more than a decade in the making and was launched at a conference for signatories to the Montreal Protocol which is hosted by the UN Environment Programme.
It will help developing nations achieve higher standards of competency in safe refrigerant handling through training and accreditation.
Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) technical director, Graeme Fox, said the timing was significant because of the rapid growth in the use of new alternative refrigerant gases.
Fox was one of the founders of the RDL scheme and hailed its launch as a “significant development for the worldwide refrigerant industry that will save many lives”.
“A lot of countries do not enjoy the training and technical infrastructure we take for granted in Europe and the rest of the developed world,” he said.