New refrigerants are killing people in Africa!

Refrigeration Engineer Postolo, a resident of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is the latest victim of new refrigerants in Africa. An accident, which followed careless handling of R600 refrigerant, was fatal last week.

Daouda MBaye, journalist

In a recent interview, published on the u-3ARC website (u-3arc.org), President Madi Sakandé sounded the alarm on inappropriate use, on the unpreparedness of technicians or even the insufficient information of users... of new refrigerants. He rightly argued that “The other side of the coin is that these new refrigerants could have a very dangerous impact on humans, in that they are flammable. For African Technicians who have until now used non-flammable refrigerants, the risk is very significant. More than 90% of African Technicians are unaware of the risk involved in handling such refrigerants. "

Remain very careful

https://www.u-3arc.org/news-pu...

This alarm was launched barely a few weeks ago and now explosions are multiplying with severities, certainly differentiated but all severe, going as far as deaths, announced in Kenya, in the DRC, following a poor handling of these new refrigerants. In that last country, Refrigeration Technician Postolo lost his life in Uvira, in the province of South Kivu. We learned that his death occurred following careless use of R600 Refrigerant. “After he cut a pipe to free it, he then lit a flame in this environment without being able to be reassured of the total elimination of this product in the room. » The explosion then the fire which followed were fatal to him, our informant tells us. In addition to the death of the Refrigeration Technician, at least 3 other people, from the same family, were seriously burned and then taken to hospital.

Faced with such tragedies, President Madi Sakandé, who did not fail to present his condolences and compassion to the families of the victims and his colleagues, while praying for a better future, urges all engineers, technicians, refrigeration specialists and decision-makers from all sides to remain very careful while respecting possible standards, during the use of this type of flammable refrigerants.