HVAC engineers should be seen as an emergency service
17th March 2020
USA: The ACCA, the USA’s largest air conditioning contractors association, is campaigning for HVAC contractors to be treated as essential service providers during the coronavirus crisis.
In the USA, as elsewhere in the world, millions of businesses are being forced to close. The ACCA is demanding that HVACR contractors be exempt from any mandates that require businesses to temporarily close or individuals to self-isolate.
The ACCA argues that HVACR contractors in the US should be considered emergency service providers because they perform “necessary, life-saving services on several components of our nation’s most critical infrastructure”.
It lists, as examples, the healthcare industry, the agri-food supply chain, cooling for data and information technology centres, and essential heating, cooling, and refrigeration needs for vulnerable populations.
“If contractors do not have the necessary labor to service the HVACR systems at vital sites like hospitals, labs, pharmacies, grocery stores, and food warehouses, among other places where lives, safety, and economic well-being are all at stake, the consequences could be catastrophic,” the ACCA says.
The ACCA is calling on its members to take action and has prepared a letter that can be sent to state and federal officials. Details here.
