F-Gas: Training
All personnel Handling F-Gases shall:
- complete the dedicated mandatory CERN e-learning course;
- receive CERN practical training if they are Handling research specific Equipment;
- hold the certifications required by applicable regulations in the Host Sates, if any.
The specific case of cooling:
Personnel carrying out the installation, servicing, maintenance, repairs, leak checks, recovery or decommissioning of refrigeration equipment containing F-Gases shall hold an appropriate valid F-Gas training attestation or certificate (See table below). CERN Contractors that offer refrigeration/AC services shall furthermore hold a company F-Gas certificate issued by a national authority or accredited body.
The specific case of electrical insulation (SF6):
Personnel carrying out installation, maintenance, repairs, leak detection, gas recovery/reclamation or disposal of SF₆ must hold an appropriate valid F-Gas (SF₆) certificate showing competence for the equipment type they work on (e.g. high-voltage switchgear, fire-protection). Company certification is required for particular services in several Member States.
Supervisors shall ensure that persons under their responsibility Handling F-Gases are appropriately informed regarding the requirements applicable to their F-Gas-related activities and trained accordingly. CERN technical contacts shall ensure that contractors under their responsibility implement the above measures for their personnel Handling F-Gases (See table below).
CERN’s Host States have dedicated bodies and entities that provide F-Gas training and certification. Participation in these training courses is organised by the Department to which the personnel Handling F- Gases is affiliated directly with the external providers.
CERN provides specific training for members of the personnel (except category “Externals”) working on/with particle detectors or other non-standard equipment in experiments: “F-Gas – Working in Experiments”, organised by CERN Safety training. This course is under development, but will be available for enrolment on the CERN Learning Hub when published.
Summary of training courses applicable to each context:
| Mandatory training : F-Gas Fundamentals e-learning course | ||||
USE CASE | Equipment / Activity | Gas type | Further practical mandatory training | Organisation |
COOLING | Cooling (HVAC / processes / detectors) | HFCs | Both Host States have dedicated bodies that provide cooling refrigeration training/certification, such as:
| The relevant Department organises with external course providers where applicable |
ELECTRICAL INSULATION | Electrical insulation | SF6 | Both Host States have dedicated bodies that provide SF6 specific training/certification, example:
| |
DETECTOR SYSTEMS & EXPERIMENTS
| Particle detection (non-standard equipment) | HFCs PFCs SF6 NF3 etc. | CERN provides specific training for physicists/engineers/technicians working on/with particle detectors or other non-standard equipment:
| |
F-Gas Guidance Menu
CONTACT INFO
If you have any questions regarding the Policy, the Implementation measures, any feedback on this site or specific queries regarding fluorinated gases, contact the CERN F-Gas management team: F-gas-management@cern.ch
Chapter Version 1.0 (See all previous versions on EDMS)