Safety and health in shipbreaking : Guidelines for Asian Countries and Turkey

Shipbreaking, the dismantling of a vessel's structure for scrapping or disposal, is one of the world's most hazardous occupations, involving many environmental, safety and health issues. These guidelines are the first of their kind to provide models for ensuring safe work in shipbreaking within the framework of the ILO's Decent Work Agenda, and to offer recommendations on the transformation of a mainly informal activity into a more formal, organized one. The guidelines provide practitioners with detailed advice, offering models for the safe planning and execution of shipbreaking operations and identifying the specific duties and responsibilities of employers, workers and contrators and government authorities in protecting workers from work-related injuries and diseases, ill health, and incidents. The principles set forward here will also be helpful to those engaged in defining coherent national policies and frameworks on occupational safety and health and working conditions for the shipbreaking industry.