Fernie Memorial Arena Incident Animation

the furni Memorial Arena a civic recreational facility in Fernie BC is comprised of a curling rink and a hockey rink separated by a common area that includes a large compressor room the refrigeration system for both rinks is located in the compressor room a critical component of the refrigeration system is the brine chiller the chiller helps create ice for the hockey and curling surfaces a brine chiller is a large cylinder filled with ammonia inside the cylinder are many smaller tubes through which warm brine passes the ammonia in the cylinder evaporates as it boils cooling the brine as it circulates through the tubes it is critical that the brine and ammonia never mix due to corrosion over time a pinhole developed in one of the curling rink chiller tubes allowing ammonia to leak and mix with the brine this leak was not repaired during the 2017 summer seasonal shutdown on October 16 2017 at approximately 6:00 a.m. the chiller for the curling rink was started and put back into service on October 17th 2017 at 352 a.m. the automatic ammonia gas detector alarm system was triggered the alarm system sent an alert to the fire department and the security monitoring company that there was an ammonia leak at the arena soon after to city of ferny workers arrived at the arena with the fire department two firefighters and one of the city workers put on self-contained breathing apparatus and entered the compressor room inside the room they observed the refrigeration equipment running and the ammonia alarm sounding the brine expansion tanks were shaking and brine was sloshing out the firefighters using hand-held detectors registered ammonia readings of 300 parts per million which is the level that is immediately dangerous to life and health one of the city workers closed some of the brine system and ammonia system valves the shaking stopped the firefighters vented the building and the ammonia levels were monitored at 50 parts per million a city worker then isolated the leaking chiller and shut the system down the firefighters were told they were no longer needed and left the location between 4:30 and 5:00 a.m. at approximately that time it was decided that the compressors should be restarted in an effort to save the hockey rinks ice however because the compressors oil had been contaminated with brine the compressors could not be restarted until the oil had been changed an external contractor dispatched a refrigeration mechanic to the site to change the compressor oil prior to the arrival of the refrigeration mechanic arrangements were made to put the ammonia alarm in silent mode for the repairs shortly after 9:00 a.m. the refrigeration mechanic and the two city workers entered the compressor room to change the oil in one of the compressors they were not wearing appropriate personal protective equipment and did not have personal monitors for ammonia exposure there was no backup team and emergency responders were not present from the time the refrigeration system was put back into service the day before and while the refrigeration system was shut down the ammonia leak in the curling rink continued as the ammonia in the brine increased so did the pressure in the system at approximately 9:30 a.m. a second mechanical failure occurred the rising pressure within the brine system eventually exceeded the holding strength of a coupling causing it to separate and spray the workers with a mixture of brine and ammonia a high concentration of ammonia was rapidly released into the room the ammonia levels were not survivable all three workers succumbed to the exposure you

Channel: WorkSafeBC

Views: 1,335,447

Rating: 4.9011502 out of 5

Keywords: worksafebc, worksafe, bc, safety

Id: BBxzXKRSjsc

Length: 6min 7sec (367 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 29 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

So basically, they wanted to turn them back on to save the ice and they attempted to fix it without their safety equipment. Genius.

[u/Echo5Kilo]

Great video. I had never heard about this one until now and I've binged watched a boatload of USCSB videos on YouTube.

[u/whitetentmatt]

I’m hopeful this will lead to better work practices in other facilities and maybe a better understanding of the severity of not following best practices. It’s easy to become complacent about the dangers in your facility if you have never seen the outcome of a serious accident.

[u/VBeattie]

Sweet it's like the old USCSB videos!

[u/[deleted]]

putting that alarm on silent was pretty stupid tbh

[u/whitetentmatt]

There is a full report on technical safety B.C. site which I haven’t read but may give more details

. Technical Safety B.C.

[u/skz96]

What the fuck is ammonia,and if it was that dangerous why not try finding a safer alternative