Documents ship 3 results

"This is a joint report by Greenpeace and FIDH, that aims to shed light on the extremely poor working and environmental conditions that are still prevailing at shipbreaking yards all over the world. We illustrate this by using the specific examples of the two biggest shipbreaking countries: India and Bangladesh.
Shipbreaking involves environmental justice as well as human rights issues. This is why, for the first time, Greenpeace and FIDH decided to bring together their expertise in these respective fields and publish this joint report.
Shipbreaking yards provide the last resting place for End of Life Ships. At these yards, ships are scrapped, primarily for their steel content. Ship scrapping, often referred to as 'shipbreaking', provides employment to thousands of workers in Asia and allows the recycling of many materials used in the ship's construction. However, it is a dirty and dangerous business. Almost all of the vessels condemned for breaking contain hazardous substances such as asbestos, oil sludge, paints containing lead, other heavy metals like cadmium and arsenic, poisonous biocides as well as PCBs and even radioactive substances.
People who lose their lives due to shipbreaking activities are hardly ever mentioned and when they are reported, it is mostly as ‘numbers' and ‘statistics', whether it is in governmental or intergovernmental fora or in the media. Greenpeace and FIDH delegations went to the working and living places of these workers in India and Bangladesh. We wanted to learn more about the real stories behind these statistics. The present report is the fruit of both desk and field research. From the beginning it became immediately clear that there are serious discrepancies between these ‘numbers' and the witness stories. ...
(Extract from the publishers' presentation)

"A pilot study tested the feasibility of conducting occupational health research in Bangladesh while examining asbestos-related diseases, work-related respiratory symptoms, and attitudes to occupational health and safety among a group of internal migrant shipbreakers.Data was collected in Bengali on clinical and work history, respiratory symptoms, and occupational health and safety practices. Postero-anterior chest x-rays were read by a B-reader. In 104 male shipbreakers, prevalence of asbestos-related disease was 12 percent, of which asbestosis accounted for six percent. Knowledge of asbestos and occupational health and safety measures were almost non-existent. The prevalence of asbestos-related diseases is low compared to studies in shipbuilders and repairers, but a risk underestimate could have resulted from challenges identified during study design and implementation including: a) industry non-cooperation and a culture of corruption, b) technological and language barriers, and c) a regional lack of physician knowledge and research on occupational diseases. How these challenges affected the study is discussed and recommendations are made."

This code of practice aims at improving safety at sea by providing guidelines to evaluate the special risks of bulk cargoes such as oil, gas and chemicals, and the hazards relating to rollon/rolloff vessels, ferries and container ships. It also deals with generic problems - anchoring, mooring, access to the ship, use of hoisting devices, general cargo working and maintenance, for example - taking account of the changing nature of seaborne commerce in recent years.