Workers' deaths at the ship-breaking yards of
Chittagong are a common incident, as is environmental poisoning. But
researchers have now detected one deadly illness that has been silently
affecting the workers for decades.
Many ships that come to the yards are filled
with the mineral asbestos, used in the 1980s and ’90s for insulation on
high-heat areas such as boilers and steam pipes. It has since been banned
across the world for safety concerns.
In a recent study, Bangladesh Occupational
Safety, Health and Environment Foundation (OSHE) found that almost 33% of the
ship-breaking workers are affected by asbestosis, an incurable disease caused
by breathing the mineral in the form of dust or fumes.
The health survey, led by asbestosis expert
Dr Murali Dhar, among ship-breaking workers in Chittagong’s Sitakunda upazila,
examined 101 workers in two phases and found 33 workers affected with the
disease.
Of them, eight had become 60% disabled from
the disease.
OSHE Vice-Chairperson Dr SM Morshed told the
Dhaka Tribune that Bangladesh was the 31st top asbestos importing country
according to a 2011 study.
The findings came from a mid-term report of
the survey, which will continue until July, examining a total of 500 workers.
Apart from the ship-breakers, workers of
steel factories, re-rolling mills, tin factories and cement factories, where
materials from the yards are supplied, may also be facing asbestos hazards.
The thin dust of asbestos covers the surface
of the lungs and cannot be removed. It causes lungs to shrink permanently. It
could also lead to cancer, and a disease called mesothelioma.
“People with extensive occupational exposure
to the mining, manufacturing, handling, or removal of asbestos are at risk of
developing asbestosis,” said Dr Murali Dhar.
“In Bangladesh, ship-breaking workers are at
high risk. Symptoms are manifesting in workers who have been working for about
10 years,” he said.
Around 50 countries have prohibited asbestos
import so far, the doctor said.
OSHE data said about 793,725kg asbestos,
costing over $4 million, were imported in 2015-26 fiscal year while the
quantity was only 18,000kg in 2014-15. Asbestos worth over $2 million was
imported in the first six months of this fiscal year.
A 2011 study in the International Journal of
Occupational and Environmental Health found 12% of the 104 examined
ship-breakers affected with asbestos-related diseases, of which asbestosis accounted for 6%.
Knowledge of asbestos hazards was almost
non-existent, the study observed.
OSHE survey team member Dr Faizul Ahsan
Shuvro, an expert on asbestosis, said hospitals in Bangladesh have no equipment
to treat for asbestosis, while the number of experts on the disease is only a
handful.
“The government should create specialised
hospitals for asbestosis,” he said; adding that the hospital of Bangladesh Ship
Breakers Association in Chittagong has no facilities for asbestosis treatment.
The International Labour Organisation says
more than 107,000 workers die each year from an asbestos-related disease. In
addition, several thousand people die from asbestos in the environment.
International organisation Ship-Breaking
Platform’s Bangladesh Coordinator Muhammed Ali Shahin told the Dhaka Tribune:
“The scrap ships brought to Bangladesh were built in the 1980s and ’90s. The
ships’ engine rooms, decks, cabins and other portions contain asbestos.”
Shahin, who is also the programme coordinator
of Young Power in Social Action (YPSA), a Sitakunda-based NGO, said scrap ship
importers should import non-asbestos-contaminated ships and collect
certificates from the exporting country’s government.
Proper asbestos disposal management systems
should also be introduced as per a Supreme Court order of 2009, he added.
The World Asbestos Report, in a 2014 article,
said 98% of the workforce in ship-breaking operations of Bangladesh had no
knowledge of the asbestos hazard.
Bangladesh Ship Breakers Association’s
President Md Abu Taher claimed that the ship-breaking industry no longer
imports asbestos-contaminated ships.
“I do not know anything about the recent
health survey of OSHE,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
One yard owner, who wished to remain
anonymous, alleged that while the bigger companies might import ships after
washing all hazardous materials out at the country of origin, most try to
bypass monitoring and bring in dirty ships, as the washing is extremely
expensive.
Md Alamgir, a former technical adviser for
DNV GL International Ship Classification Society, said: “Our people are at
grave risk of inhaling asbestos fibre, which is a great concern for lung
diseases. Unfortunately we are not attentive enough to control the spread of
asbestos fibre in the air.”
Most old ships that are scrapped in
Bangladesh contain asbestos in abundance, he said. The shipyards in Sitakunda
do not practise safe handling of asbestos.
The poisonous material has also spread to
factories and mills, he added.
Admitting that scrap ships built in the ’80s
and ’90s were being imported by the ship breaking industry, Shipping Ministry’s
Joint Secretary (Ship Recycling) Mahbubul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune: “We
allow anchoring a scrap ship at the outer anchorage to the beach after all
safety agencies like the Department of Environment and the Explosives
Department test them.
“There is no chance to beach a ship with any
hazardous material.”
But since there were no regulations against
asbestos, it was not being checked, he said.
“If any agency puts out a recommendation
against asbestos, only then can we take into it cognisance,” he said.
The official pointed out that that asbestos
was not included in any list of importable or non-importable goods in the
country.
Source:
Dhaka
Tribune. 03 February 2017
