Dhaka, Brussels -- During last
week’s Asia Ban Asbestos Network meeting, the Bangladesh Occupational Safety,
Health and Environment Foundation (OSHE) organised a panel discussion on the
dangers of asbestos in the shipbreaking industry in Asia. The experts present
at the meeting agreed that exposure to asbestos is a major threat for all
industries involved in shipping, from shipbuilding, to ship repair, to
shipbreaking. Participants from South Korea and Hong Kong, which are major
shipbuilding and ship repair centres, said that they can now witness the
devastating results of shipyard workers’ exposure to asbestos years ago. In
both places, they can see a steadily raising number of victims of different
ARD, such as asbestosis and mesothelioma.
India, Bangladesh and Pakistan
are the three major shipbreaking destinations: 70 percent of all end-of-life
vessels were broken there in 2012. The Chinese ship recycling industry also has
serious issues with asbestos handling and disposal. In the shipbreaking yards
in South Asia, neither the management nor the workers are aware of the dangers
of asbestos. A recent study by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform on shipbreaking in
Pakistan has shown that asbestos is removed by workers without them being
protected. Asbestos is then dumped in unmarked sites behind the yards. A recent
research by OSHE in the shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh argues that nearly
none of the supervisors in the yards is aware of the dangers of asbestos. Therefore,
no protective measures are taken there either.
Moreover, there is hardly any
medical data available about ARD caused by shipbreaking, as the workforce in
the yards mainly consists of undocumented migrant workers and the yard owners
are not legally required to ensure regular health checks. Pilot studies both in
India and Bangladesh have shown asbestosis cases in the shipbreaking yards. However,
the circumstances – a migrant workforce, no documentation of occupational
diseases and yards that are not easily accessible to civil society and
researchers – make it very difficult to reveal the whole picture.
"Asbestos-related diseases
are hidden. They are not as dramatic as major industrial accidents and seldom
make headlines", argued Patrizia Heidegger, Executive Director of the NGO
Shipbreaking Platform. "Death by occupational diseases is slow, invisible
and painful. We want the governments in Asia to understand how harmful it is to
import asbestos into their countries and what huge human costs the ARD will
cause in the near future."
The NGO Shipbreaking Platform and
its member organisation demand that all end-of-life vessels need to carry an
Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM) in which asbestos, a common material
found in the structure of ships, is identified and quantified. The ship owners
need to provide an IHM as a first basic step towards clean and safe recycling.
Moreover, shipbreaking countries need to ensure safe asbestos removal and
handling, storage and disposal if they import end-of-life vessels for breaking.
Bangladeshi courts have ruled that all ships imported into the country need to
be toxic free. Also, under European law it is forbidden to export asbestos from
the EU Member States.
Source:
NGO Shipbreaking Platform
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