Deadly ammonia leak linked to old chiller

VANCOUVER• Old equipment that continued to be used seven years after a maintenance contractor recommended replacing it caused an ammonia leak that killed three workers at an ice rink in British Columbia last October, says an organization that oversees the safe operation of refrigeration systems in the province.

Jeff Coleman, director of risk and safety knowledge for Technical Safety BC, said Wednesday the City of Fernie scheduled funding to replace a chiller system in 2013 but it was deferred to 2014 and subsequently deleted from budget plans.

He said ammonia was used to chill liquid at the Fernie Memorial Arena and traces of the gas were found in the liquid as early as the summer of 2017, indicating a leak within the chiller, but the equipment was put back into operation on Oct. 16, the day before the colourless gas leak killed three men.

He said corrosion along a seam in a tube of the chiller had caused a tiny hole, allowing pressurized ammonia to seep into the liquid, bursting the pipe and venting large amounts of the deadly gas.

“Once the leaking chiller returned to operation, additional actions and decisions associated with the shutdown configuration were a response to cascading failures beyond the scope of training and situational understanding of those involved,” he said.

The release of ammonia triggered an alarm in the arena’s mechanical room at about 4 a.m. on Oct. 17. City of Fernie employees Wayne Hornquist and Lloyd Smith, and contractor Jason Podloski of Turner Valley, Alta., died in the room while doing emergency maintenance.

Coleman said the mechanical room’s ventilation system could not have prevented the levels of ammonia from accumulating as the gas was released so quickly. Technical Safety BC has made 18 recommendations to prevent similar incidents.

The City of Fernie said it was operating with an approved certification for its cooling system at the time of the leak and its employees were appropriately trained.

The deaths in Fernie had Technical Safety BC putting more resources into inspecting ice rinks in B.C. So far, 95 per cent of 185 sites have been inspected, and two were found to have leaking ammonia, and had to be shut down. Work Safe BC and the RCMP are also conducting independent investigations.