The federal government has released the results of a Refrigeration and Air Conditioning (RAC) survey asking respondents about their training and level of experience working with alternative refrigerants.
The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) received 760 responses to the national survey with the largest group of respondents working in stationary RAC, followed by the automotive sector.
Presenting the results at an ARBS seminar, DCCEEW A/Assistant Director, Air Quality Emissions Standards, Kara Moore, said there was a good spread of respondents across states.
She said the survey found almost half of the respondents regularly work with alternative refrigerants.
Respondents were also asked why they sought training in alternative refrigerants.
Around 41.7% said they were preparing for the transition to low GWP refrigerants and 21.6% said they were seeing more low GWP refrigerants in use while on the job.
The government also asked about barriers to upskilling – a quarter of respondents struggled to find time off the tools to undertake training.
Respondents also thought alternative refrigerant units should not be optional electives.
Interestingly, the availability of training and access was identified as the biggest barrier to upskilling by 29.4% of respondents. Some respondents found training insufficient, outdated and in need of more comprehensive information