Compliance gap looms on F GAS regulations for data centre equipment installers says on365.
Installers need next stage training to comply with EU regulations on data centre cooling equipment - www.it-director.com
Loughborough, 23 September 2009 - IT managers may soon struggle to ensure that their computing rooms and data centres comply with an EU directive on refrigerant gases used in cooling systems - because their equipment installers lack the necessary refrigerant handling training to comply with the directive.
The warning comes from on365, a specialist in the planning, installing, management and optimisation of infrastructure and utility services, which says there could potentially be a shortage of trained engineers to maintain data centres and computer rooms' cooling equipment by the time the EU regulations are tightened in 2011.
To comply with European Fluorinated Gas regulations (F GAS), all personnel involved in refrigerant gas installation, maintenance, servicing, checking and recovery will need to obtain "next stage" UK F Gas qualifications from July 2011 at the latest.?
on365 says that the regulations effectively impose nation-wide training requirements on infrastructure, heating and ventilation installers. However, it believes demand will be intensified as UK data centres and offices rapidly rethink their computing operations and IT infrastructures to achieve lower cost or ?€˜greener' operations - and which are assumed to be compliant with all ?€˜green' regulations.
The company believes the situation is made worse by the lack of awareness of appropriate courses nationwide: City & Guilds and CITB have only recently launched approved next stage F GAS handling courses.
on365 sales & marketing director Chris Smith said: "We have put all of our engineers through the F GAS training this summer but the 2011 certification deadline means that many equipment installers have a limited time frame in which to gain accreditation for their staff. There is limited training space available and the longer people leave this, the more likely there will be a shortage of training space's, as the deadline approaches"
He added: "If installers fail to train staff in time, many skilled personnel will no longer be eligible to continue working on their clients' IT and equipment installations. This is a real concern as clients and data centre owners are increasingly asking for energy efficient and future-proofed IT infrastructures as a matter of course."
Notes
The 2011 deadline is the latest stage in the EU's drive to minimise environmental damage from refrigerant gases: under the current F Gas regulations, any facility operating cooling equipment with a charge of between three and 30Kg must test for leaks once a year and twice a year for systems over 30Kg. Installers must also log all equipment usage and leak tests and repairs and be qualified to handle refrigerant.
City & Guilds 2079 and CITB J11 are named as the new F Gas qualifications and are now starting to become available.
About on365.co.uk
on365.co.uk is a specialist in the planning, installing, management and optimisation of physical IT infrastructure and utility services, from the desktop to server rooms to data centres. Its comprehensive IT support capabilities encompass installation, system testing, network integration, on-site maintenance and audit/review services. It has clients across the UK financial, telecommunications, utility, transport and leisure sectors. http://www.on365.co.uk/
Issued by Jenny/Sneyd/Mark Walker, Chameleon PR, Tel: 0207 680 5500
