Environmental Science and Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, 400076, India.
Heriot Watt University, Institute of Biological Chemistry, Biophysics and Bioengineering, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, UK; Institute of Occupational Medicine, Research Avenue North, Edinburgh, EH14 4AP, UK.
Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2020 Apr;225:113478. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2020.113478. Epub 2020 Feb 9.
The recycling of end-of-life vessels is a complex activity that generates an enormous amount of hazardous waste, including asbestos-containing materials (ACM). Efforts by the Government of India to comply with national and international regulations and improved standard operating procedures are expected to lower the exposure risk of the workforce to hazardous substances, including asbestos. The current workers are likely to face lesser risks than did those exposed in the past. The present study assesses the health risks from past exposure of asbestos for those workers engaged in handling and removing ACM in ship recycling yards before environmentally sound recycling of obsolete ships was introduced in the early 2000s. Estimates were made of the number of workers exposed, and the intensity of exposure and these data were used to estimate the likely number of mesothelioma deaths in the future. It was estimated that nearly 15% of the total workforce engaged in ship recycling will suffer from mesothelioma which translates to about 4,513 mesothelioma deaths among the total of 31,000 workers estimated to be ever employed in the yards from 1994 till 2002. Recommendations are made for a practical approach to the safe handling of ACMs in Indian ship recycling yards.
报废船只的回收是一项复杂的活动，会产生大量危险废物，包括含石棉材料（ACM）。印度政府为遵守国家和国际法规并改进标准作业程序所做的努力，预计将降低工人接触危险物质（包括石棉）的风险。目前的工人可能面临的风险比过去接触过的工人要小。本研究评估了过去接触石棉对那些在 21 世纪初引入报废船只环境友好回收之前从事船只回收场中 ACM 处理和清除工作的工人的健康风险。对接触工人的人数、接触强度进行了估计，这些数据被用来估计未来间皮瘤死亡的可能人数。据估计，从事船只回收的工人中，近 15%将患有间皮瘤，这意味着在 1994 年至 2002 年期间，在这些船厂工作过的估计 31000 名工人中，约有 4513 名将死于间皮瘤。本文针对印度船只回收场中 ACM 的安全处理提出了实用建议。
