Sectoral working papers, 167

Worker safety in the ship-breaking industries

This issues paper highlights the procedures and practices adopted in the disposal of obsolete ships originating from the world fleet of merchant vessels with an emphasis on occupational safety and health (OSH) issues and on environmental aspects as shipbreaking is undertaken today by the world-breaking majors on beachheads in Asia.

Although the demolition of ships is a dirty and dangerous occupation by any standards, breaking them up on beachheads is particularly unsafe and hazardous, now that the work is no longer performed in dry docks. However, the feasibility of ship-breaking is not only determined by the price of scrap metal, but also by the existence of markets for the recycled products and goods, and by the abundance of low-cost labour.

This issues paper highlights the procedures and practices adopted in the disposal of obsolete ships originating from the world fleet of merchant vessels with an emphasis on occupational safety and health (OSH) issues and on environmental aspects as shipbreaking is undertaken today by the world-breaking majors on beachheads in Asia.

The paper outlines disposal practices including those of:
- decommissioning and sale for scrapping;
- demolition – principles of the breaking process; and
- disposal and recycling methods,
with a focus on safe work.

It reviews existing legal and regulatory tools and makes an assessment of recent and previous work undertaken elsewhere by concerned agencies, national and international institutions and organizations, governments, NGOs and other stakeholders. Conclusions, recommendations and other relevant information from these organizations including plans for future work are presented.

Based on inputs from the abovementioned activities, the paper elaborates on these findings with the objective of identifying specific measures and actions that may be undertaken in the future by the ILO.