Safety First

We recent heard of the tragedy in Fernie at the local hockey arena and at first our thoughts go out to the Families of the three individuals.

For those residing in Delta you can rest safe as I was in contact with Delta’s Director of Parks regarding this issue.

He recently mentioned to me that “once Delta was made aware of this serious situation, Delta was in contact with the management of each facility and a full check was completed.”

He mentioned “Delta residents can rest assured that all of our facilities are safe and checks are made on an ongoing basis.”

Delta has immediately scheduled a review of Ammonia Safe Work Polices and Procedure along with Delta’s requirement for the appropriate personal protection equipment with staff. They want to get people fitted out with help from safety equipment suppliers to ensure all is well.

As you can expect this is not the first situation that has arisen involving an Ammonia concern.

It’s reported that former Olympic Skater Karen Magnussen was in preparation to coach some young skaters at the North Shore Winter Club in 2011.

When she entered the facility she was completely unaware that the hallway was full of ammonia gas which was coming from the refrigeration system.

No bells, no whistles and no immediate warnings until she noticed the maintenance staff waving their arms telling her to leave immediately.

When she turned to leave she ran into the invisible wall of poison gas that choked her and also burned her eyes. Having something like a storemasta eyewash station safety shower onsite could help those who are at risk of damaging their eyes when in close proximity to hazardous substances.

She was one that is unfortunate to have been overcome with the gas and is on medication for her injuries, often getting lung infections to which WorkSafeBC has classified her as permanently disabled. When there are chances of unexpected hazardous material being exposed to people, it is always prudent to have safety measures in place like the aforementioned alarm system, disposable medical masks (https://www.sciquip.co.uk/products/ppe/disposable-medical-face-masks.html) and eye protection gear for immediate use, and evacuation protocols if necessary.

She is one of the fortunate ones to have survived this dangerous gas and she is one of many that are extremely saddened by the incident in Fernie.

She mentions that it was noted that there were reports of code violations, but the North Shore Winter Club failed to do any follow-up.

She (Karen) strongly believes that if her accident was taken in a more serious nature possibly this situation might have not happened in Fernie – but we’ll never know.

Sadly the situation in Fernie was one where the Firefighters entered the arena, but were forced to leave for their own safety.

Safety is essential to everyone using any facility in any community wherever your travels take you and given the fact that they are in constant use, it never hurts to contact your Parks and Rec Commission to inquire.

It should be noted that Delta (and others) have a number of safeguards that minimizes the risk to staff, users as well as those in the immediate area.

The systems are:

• Dedicated rooms that house the ammonia equipment. These rooms have restricted access that is not accessible to staff without specific training.
• Each ammonia room contains sensors and alarms that are set at minimal thresholds to provide warning of ammonia leaks. The alarms are both audible and visible outside the entry to the room.
• The alarms are monitored by a third party monitoring system. When the alarm is triggered, emergency personnel are called to respond.
• If a leak is detected, the sensors automatically engage an exhaust system that vents the ammonia through a vent stack from the room to the exterior high above the roof of the arena.
• An anti-room separate from the ammonia room contains the control panels which allows for safe access to emergency equipment and controls.
• Delta’s facilities also include a remote shutdown switch for the plant.
• Maintenance activities in a refrigeration plant system also include a safeguard secondary isolation system to ensure that the ammonia charge contained inside the system is separated from a maintenance activity that may be occurring.
• Operational checks are undertaken and documented in the log book by qualified staff every two hours in accordance with requirements by Technical Safety BC.