City to sue fridge company over ammonia leak
19th January 2020CANADA: The City of Fernie is to sue Toromont Industries, the owners of CIMCO Refrigeration, for a reported CA$650,000 following the fatal ammonia release at the Fernie ice rink in 2017.
The ammonia leak which occurred while repairs were being carried out resulted in the deaths of two Fernie City employees Wayne Hornquist and Lloyd Smith and CIMCO Refrigeration engineer Jason Podloski.
According to the online site Business Vancouver, the lawsuit filed on January 7 says the refrigeration company “gave inappropriate advice and/or failed to give appropriate advice to Fernie in the months leading up to the failure concerning operation, maintenance and servicing of the system.”
Fernie claims it had a service agreement with CIMCO for the system in place since December 2016, and that it “relied on CIMCO for provision of advice and recommendations in connection with operation, maintenance, and servicing of the System.”
A report by Technical Safety BC revealed that the ammonia release was initiated by a small hole in a brine chiller leaking ammonia into the secondary coolant. This led to pressurisation in a pipe that resulted in the pipe coupling separation and a rapid release of ammonia into an enclosed room.
Related stories:
Three workers dead in ammonia leak – 18 October 2017
CANADA: Three workers have been killed by an ammonia leak at an ice rink in British Columbia. Read more…
Fernie ammonia leak victims named – 20 October 2017
CANADA: With the investigation into the Fernie arena ammonia leak still ongoing, the coroners office has released the names of the three who died. Read more…
Secondary cause of fatal ammonia leak – 26 July 2018
CANADA: A leak in the secondary brine coolant system caused the fatal ammonia release at the Fernie ice rink last year that killed three people. Read more…
