Environment · 3 min read

The Invisible Leak: Why Refrigerant Management Deserves HSSE Attention

13 September 2026 Illustrative image of African industrial technicians reviewing refrigeration equipment; not a photograph of a specific site.

Illustrative image of African industrial technicians reviewing refrigeration equipment; not a photograph of a specific site.

Why repeated refrigerant charging deserves investigation, reliable records and verified repairs. A practical World Ozone Day guide for workplace teams.

World Ozone Day: a practical workplace perspective

A cooling unit loses performance. A technician adds refrigerant. The room becomes comfortable again, and the job is closed. A few weeks later, the same problem returns.

That sequence should prompt a question: did we restore cooling, or did we leave the cause of refrigerant loss unresolved?

For World Ozone Day, organisations should look beyond the thermostat and examine how they identify, investigate and prevent refrigerant releases.

Understand what is being released

The stratospheric ozone layer absorbs harmful ultraviolet radiation. Certain refrigerants, including CFCs and HCFCs, contribute to its depletion when released. HFCs do not deplete ozone, but many have a high global warming potential. The environmental consequence therefore depends on the substance involved.

Calling every refrigerant leak an “ozone leak” is inaccurate. Calling a leak unimportant because the refrigerant has no ozone-depletion potential is equally misleading.

The first control is a reliable equipment inventory: identify the refrigerant, the equipment that contains it and the records needed to track its use.

Treat repeated charging as a warning

A recurring need to add refrigerant deserves investigation. It can indicate leakage, an unresolved service problem or unreliable records. Repeated charging should trigger a review rather than become an accepted maintenance routine.

For example, an offshore accommodation unit that repeatedly requires refrigerant should have its service history examined. Competent personnel should establish the cause, complete the appropriate repair and verify performance before the defect is closed.

The same principle applies to office air conditioners, cold rooms and industrial cooling equipment.

Make the maintenance record useful

A record that says “AC serviced” reveals little. A more useful record identifies the asset, refrigerant type, quantity added or recovered, fault found, repair completed and verification performed.

Managers can then ask meaningful questions: Which units repeatedly require charging? Are the same faults returning? Are replacement decisions addressing unreliable equipment?

A refrigerant balance can help identify unexplained losses, but it needs consistent stock records and consideration of legitimate transfers and servicing activities.

Turn awareness into a control

This World Ozone Day, select one repeatedly serviced cooling asset and review its history. Give any unresolved defect an owner, a completion date and a verification requirement.

Environmental protection becomes credible when the maintenance process detects loss and follows it through to resolution.

Discussion question: When refrigerant is added, can we explain why it was needed and what prevents the problem from recurring?

Sources

UN — SciencePublished Guidance accessed 13 September 2026
UNEP — About Montreal ProtocolPublished Guidance accessed 13 September 2026
UNEP — Refrigerant ManagementPublished Guidance accessed 13 September 2026

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