Do your Techs Have A/C Refrigerant Certification Cards?

The EPA recently began fining service departments that employ technicians who do A/C related work without an A/C refrigerant certification card. In each investigation, the EPA has pulled repair orders from the past three to four years and matched them against photocopies of the tech’s certification cards. If there is no match or if the tech wasn’t certified at the time, it is considered a violation, and can amount up to $32,500 per violation per day. In addition to certified techs, shops need to make sure their equipment is certified and that the certification is readily available.

The EPA has compiled a list of organizations offering approved certification programs at http://www.epa.gov/Ozone/title6/609/technicians/609certs.html.

The EPA also addresses motor vehicle air conditioning in section 3.4 of the “Consolidated Screening Checklist for Automotive Repair Facilities Guidebook” at http://www.ccar-greenlink.org/vshops/FinalAutoGuide_092503.pdf.

Related sites
The National Institute for Automotive Excellence
http://www.asecert.org

The International Mobile Air Conditioning Association
http://www.imaca.org

The Mobile Air Conditioning Society Worldwide
http://www.macsw.org

Greater Cleveland Auto Dealers Association – Offers an online study guide and test to help techs obtain certification.
http://www.gcada.org

Source: MADA Dateline

>>Click here for more Breaking News and Hot Topics