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.
No comments:
Post a Comment