Occupational Health Hazards of Ship Scrapping Workers at Chittagong Coastal Zone, Bangladesh

Abstract

Ship dismantling in Chittagong coast, Bangladesh is a matter of environmental, health and safety concern. Workers break the obsolete vessels with no protection from explosions, infiltration of asbestos, heavy metals, oil residues, TBT, PCBs, or a cocktail of toxic chemicalcontained in the ship. Most of the workers are not aware of the ship borne poisons and their impacts on health and thus they continue work without any protective measures. ASTER imagery, topographic and other maps of Chittagong coast were analyzed; and ship scrapping zone, human settlement, and clinical facilities were identified and mapped. Participatory rapid appraisal (PRA) was utilized to elucidate the opinion of ship scrapping workers to analyze their situation as well as to assess the occupational health hazards. The main causes of accidents in ship scrapping yards are due to sudden fall of steel beam, burning and detonation of gas,suffocation by inhaling CO2 and other obnoxious gases trapped in ships’ chambers. Deep cut; burning; breaking and fracture of bones of hands, legs, fingers and head; fainting and loss of limb are the most common accidents. Most of the workers were found to suffer from multiple diseases and health hazards. Poor safety systems, hazardous working conditions, use of traditional methods of cutting giant ships, absence of appropriate emergency response and lack of precautionary measures are the main reasons for accidents and casualties. There is no health care facility in the surroundings of the ship scrapping zone. Thus, in case of accidents,the patients have to be rushed to the City centers about 10-15 km away, where adequate medical facilities are available. But distance, traffic congestions and high cost are the main hindrance to avail those facilities by the low waged labourers.