Asbestos abatement is slow sailing
B.C. Ferries working with union to get health hazard off its ships
Asbestos on ships and ferries in domestic waters remains a potential hazard to workers and the public, creating economic and ethical questions about how companies like B.C. Ferries should deal with it, B.C. Ferry and Marine Workers’ Union president Graeme Johnston says.
“We still continue to struggle to convince employers that abatement is the best policy, even in the marine industry where risk of exposure is heightened by the nature of the work environment,” Johnston said at a Canadian Labour Congress news conference on Dec. 7.
B.C. Ferries management wrote in its 2015-16 annual report that some vessels “contain undetermined amounts of asbestos.”
“It is our intention to sell decommissioned vessels into world markets to buyers who will keep them in active service. Under these circumstances, asbestos remediation would become the responsibility of the new owner,” the report says.
As long as the buyer intended to use the vessel, such a sale would meet Transport Canada regulations. These regulations make it practical — and more profitable — for companies to pass the disposal problem to developing countries into which the ferry is sold.
For example, in 2008 B.C. Ferries sold the former Queen of Esquimalt for $1.7 million to a Chinese company that registered it in Cambodia and intended to use it as a cargo vessel.
Kathleen Ruff, who has lobbied for asbestos protection for both workers and the public for a decade, was concerned the sale might have contravened the Basel Convention, an international treaty aimed at reducing the transport of hazardous waste to developing countries from developed countries like Canada.
Ruff approached the provincial government through her local MLA. She received a letter from then-minister of transportation and infrastructure Shirley Bond that said while the convention “would apply to any ship sold abroad for dismantling, it does not apply where ships are sold for continued use as transport vessels.”
The Queen of Esquimalt never made it to Asia, though. Financial troubles forced its new owners to abandon their plan, and eventually a court awarded the ship to a Mexican company. It was towed to Baja and scrapped, and the asbestos became the problem of Mexican workers.
“I found it appalling that B.C. Ferries would say they’re not technically responsible,” Ruff said.
B.C. Ferries has had other problems with asbestos exposure and inadequate labelling of asbestos materials in its fleet. In 2010, the cafeteria on the Queen of Burnaby was closed after a test confirmed loose debris on top of a deckhead contained 60 per cent amosite asbestos.
According to work procedures implemented by the asbestos abatement contractor Westcor Ltd., there was a high probability that workers, other personnel and the public could be exposed to asbestos.
The amosite asbestos — among the most hazardous types — was used mostly in thermal insulation products. The abatement work was performed at night while the ship was docked, but the vessel remained in service during the day.
Graeme Johnston, president of the B.C. Ferry and Marine Workers’ Union, said the union has been pushing for an improved and comprehensive containment and encapsulation plan for asbestos in B.C. Ferries vessels.
“Employers point to management and control policies that rely on encapsulation and enclosure,” Johnston said. “But even the best policies and procedures we have for working in environments with asbestos containing materials are subject to the human element, and humans make mistakes.”
Vibration of the ships in rough seas or while docking is a concern because it could knock asbestos fibres loose. If fibres become airborne, workers and passengers risk being exposed.
According to Lloyd’s Register, a global engineering company that provides risk and compliance consultancy, ships “roll, pitch, yaw, heave, surge, sway, slam and vibrate, and in the engine room these issues are magnified by vibrating machinery. These conditions make friable asbestos far more likely to emit fibres.”
Even if exposure is brief, external factors such as occupation, age or cigarette smoking could contribute to the negative effects asbestos fibres can have on someone’s health.
B.C. Ferries says it has not wavered from its goal of dealing with asbestos. It established an asbestos working committee with the union in 2012.
Recent discussions between the two sides suggest improvements to the company’s asbestos management practices could be coming soon.
“We’ve done abatement work on our older vessels and buildings and we are working to remove asbestos as soon as practicable,” B.C. Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall said.
“Where asbestos-containing materials have been identified, routine inspections are conducted using the inventories.”
Owen Munro is a graduate of Langara College’s journalism program and recipient of the 2016 Jeani Read-Michael Mercer Scholarship.