A factory refrigeration technician who lost his lungs to an anhydrous ammonia leak has no case against his employer, a poultry plant in N.C. The incident in June 2009 killed one refrigeration technician and injured another refrigeration technician and their supervisor. The injured refrigeration technician was in a coma for four to five months and had to have a double-lung transplant. It all started in April 2009 when the U.S. Department of Agriculture inspected the poultry plant and ordered the facility to replace a part in its refrigeration equipment, a votator heat exchanger, which uses anhydrous ammonia to chill the poultry before packaging. The company received the part, an inner sleeve, in June 2009 and decided to use its own employees instead of hiring an outside contractor to install it. The instructions for replacing the inner sleeve include a warning that all of the refrigerant – the anhydrous ammonia – must be removed first.