A technician is disconnecting service hoses that may still hold liquid refrigerant under pressure. What personal protection belongs on that task?
- Safety glasses and gloves, because liquid refrigerant striking skin or eyes causes freeze burns
- BA respirator, because refrigerant vapor is absorbed through the lungs as a systemic poison in seconds
Common refrigerants are not systemic poisons taken up through the lungs in this way. The inhalation hazard is oxygen displacement in a confined space, which ventilation and monitoring address.
- CRubber-soled boots, because escaping refrigerant carries an electrical charge to ground
Refrigerant carries no electrical charge. Electrical protection is a real and separate concern on a service call, but it has nothing to do with breaking a pressurized hose connection loose.
- DA face shield alone, since gloves reduce the feel needed to break a fitting loose cleanly
Gloves are exactly what protects the hands doing the work, and a liquid jet reaches them first. Trading them for a face shield leaves the most exposed part of the body uncovered.
Why A is correct
The hazard from escaping liquid refrigerant is thermal. Rapid boiling pulls heat out of skin and eye tissue fast enough to cause a freeze injury on contact, so eye protection and gloves are the protection that matches the actual risk.
What this question is testing
The candidate must identify the correct protective equipment and, more importantly, the actual mechanism of injury, distinguishing a thermal hazard from inhalation and electrical hazards that belong to other tasks.
On the job
The classic injury happens with a manifold set that still holds liquid in the hoses after charging. The technician cracks a fitting expecting a puff of vapor and gets a jet of liquid across a bare hand or into an unprotected eye. Good practice is to recover the hose contents rather than purging them, keep glasses on for the whole job, and treat any hose that has seen liquid as still charged until proven otherwise.
Memory technique
Liquid out of a hose is instant winter. Glasses on the eyes, gloves on the hands, every time.
Exam tip
Liquid refrigerant means freeze burns, which means glasses and gloves. Respirators belong to the confined space question, not this one.
Where to look it up
Liquid refrigerant causes frostbite on contact; eye and hand protection are required when handling refrigerant under pressure.