ORFA Registered Industrial Ice Surface Refrigeration Training Pathway

May 10, 2023

The monitoring, maintenance and management of Ontario’s registered industrial ice surface refrigeration plant rooms require well-trained and competent staff as buildings continue to age and utilize advanced technology design as part of newer construction design or retrofit. Recent refrigeration plant incidents in the ice surface industry provide “lagging indicators” as to a lack of “safety culture” in these high risk to public and worker safety environments.

In response, the ORFA has developed a minimum industry awareness and training pathway that is recognized by the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) and the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD) to assist “owners” and “users” of these systems as defined in the Operating Engineers Regulation (OE) – O Reg 219/01 and the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) – RSO 1990, c 0.1 as “leading indicators” to improved safety.

The ORFA Certified Arena Refrigeration Plant Technician (CARPT) professional designation is designed to move all stakeholders through an education pathway based on specific workplace roles and responsibilities. The objective will assist management in measuring current operational and management safety performance based on regulatory obligation and industry best practice.

CARPT Training Pathway Steps

Step One: Safe Arena Refrigeration Plant Operator (SARPO) – designed to introduce new or seasonal plant workers or “owners” to the regulatory responsibilities, risks, hazards, roles and responsibilities of ice surface industrial refrigeration.

Step Two: Basic Arena Refrigeration (BAR) – building on the knowledge gained in SARPO, the BAR training pathway is designed to assist staff who are employed full-time in the ice surface industry.

Step Three: Advanced Refrigeration Facility Operator (ARFO) – is a comprehensive training course on the management of an ice surface refrigeration plant room. The course focuses on Section 46 of the OE responsibility of developing and maintaining a plant operational, maintenance, asset management and emergency procedures manual.

Step Four: Recreation Facility Environmental Services Management (RFESM) – is a comprehensive training course on the operations, maintenance and management of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and dehumidification systems that can impact the performance of the ice surface refrigeration systems.

Step Five: Legal Awareness 1 – Supervising in a Recreation Environment – is a recreation-based health and safety training course that provides direction beyond the OE responsibilities for worker and public safety.

For more information on these and other ORFA training courses visit https://www.orfa.com/