‘Public safety is number one’: Vancouver Park Board prepares as new ice rink regulations loom
Posted January 7, 2018 2:25 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Months after an ammonia leak at an ice rink in Fernie killed three men, the technical safety authority in BC is implementing new regulations aimed at avoiding similar tragedies.
Among other requirements, starting January 19th, facilities that use ammonia as a refrigerant — like ice rinks and curling rinks — will have to be manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week by an “appropriately qualified” person. This individual will have to meet at least one Certificate of Qualification.
Preparations have already begun in Vancouver to make sure the Park Board‘s buildings meet regulations.
“The public should be confident that the Park Board is doing everything that they can to make sure that we not only meet, but we exceed the safety requirements because we want to make sure that Vancouver… that people can take their kids and their families and enjoy their time worry-free,” says Commissioner Sarah Kirby-Yung.
She explains there are eight Park Board rinks around Vancouver and they have been inspected. But not all of them will have to meet that 24/7 requirement.
“It is important to know though that there is an opportunity to have the rinks designated with a special plant designation, which means that they would not be subject to the 24/7 coverage because they have been risk-assessed and deemed that the protocol for safety and the equipment that they have in place doesn’t require that 24/7.”
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Trout Lake is currently the only facility that has this designation in Vancouver.
“It means that you’ve met certain qualifications,” she explains. “And that there is a comfort level that all of the safety procedures, such as monthly ammonia checks, the equipment that they have on-site, the emergency procedures or alarms in the event of a situation are fully in place.”
She says the Park Board is working on getting other rinks the same designation. “The staff are working through a process to achieve that, and that will provide some flexibility over the 24/7 requirement.”
Kirby-Yung admits there will probably be some additional costs, but believes they’re well worth it. “In my view you can’t be too careful. Public safety is number one.”
According to Technical Safety BC, the order is applicable to “all refrigeration plants that are installed in a facility that is classified as a public assembly occupancy.”
“You can never be too careful, and we don’t want to be in a situation where we have a tragedy like in Northern BC,” Kirby-Yung says.
