First Annual Ammonia Safety and Awareness Day

The Inaugural Ammonia Safety and Awareness Day will feature next week in Washington an eight hour Ammonia Safety seminar offered by Seattle Refrigeration Company, the Seattle Chapter of the Refrigeration Engineers and Technicians Association and the Ammonia Safety and Training Institute. The event will provide attendees training in how to prevent or mitigate ammonia release incidents.

At the First Annual Ammonia Safety and Awareness, to be held on 5 June in Tukwila, Washington, Seattle Refrigeration Company in conjunction with the Seattle Chapter of Refrigeration Engineers and Technicians Association (RETA) and the Ammonia Safety and Training Institute (ASTI) will offer an Ammonia Safety Class, which will provide training required to prevent or mitigate incidents of ammonia refrigerant release.

President and co-founder of ASTI, Gary Smith, will be the keynote speaker and facilitator of the course which will instruct end-users, emergency responders, and regulatory officials in methods to:

Prevent releases
Recognise and determine the severity of a release
Respond to a release
Coordinate with emergency responders
Learn what the requirements are of various regulatory agencies in reporting a release

Topics covered by the course

Topics of the eight hour seminar will include:

Effects of ammonia & first response
Shelter/evacuation plans
Assist in decontamination and medical zones
Connecting Process Safety Management (PSM) to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Downwind and downstream effects
Fire and Emergency Medical Service (EMS) support
ERP reporting requirements

Besides the training received on the day, attendees will also receive useful material, namely a copy of the Emergency Response Cards, which serve as a "glove box" checklist of emergency response issues associated with an ammonia emergency, as well as a workbook of recommended methods to prevent, mitigate and prepare for an emergency event.