6.43. The considerable increase in the quantity and complexity of boilers and steam plant has necessitated the setting up of a separate section to handle their repair, overhaul and preparation for annual survey. This section also carried out new installation work on small projects as and when labour became available.
Hospital Services
6.44. This Section is responsible for the operation and routine maintenance of all mechanical and electrical services in hospitals and clinics. These services include the air-conditioning and refrigeration plants, boilers, emergency generators and all steam, water, compressed air and medical gas installations. All services were maintained fully operational throughout the year and, working in co-operation with the Steam Section, all boilers and other pressure vessels were surveyed in accordance with standard practice.
Air Conditioning and Refrigeration
6.45. The Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Section is divided into two sub-sections: Workshops and Operation. The Workshop Sub-Section forms part of the Mechanical Workshops and carries out the maintenance and repair of air-conditioning units, refrigerators, dehumidifiers, exhaust fans, ventilation systems and numerous specialist refrigerated equipment. It also handles modifications, repairs and minor additions on new and existing installations. The number of individual items of equipment maintained by this section increased by 21% from 6,146 to 7,432 units.
6.46. The Operational Sub-Section operates and maintains all Government air conditioning and refrigeration installations including attended manually-operated plants of up to 1,500 tons of refrigeration capacity and unattended packaged units and automatic plants in the smaller capacity range.
6.47. The number of plants in operation at the end of the year was 139 with a total capacity of 6,715 tons of refrigeration, showing an increase during the year of 13 plants. As the majority of these are of small capacity, however, the increase in tonnage was only a little over 110. Included in the new installations taken over was the second stage of the Kai Tak Airport Terminal Building.
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