Discharge of oil to the sea has resulted in physical damage of birds, mammals and marine organisms and their natural habitats. Light refined petroleum products are highly toxic and represent a fire hazard. Wastes like blasting residue and paint chips contaminate the soil and surface water. Improper storage and disposal of scrap metal and wastes also causes lead contamination. Environmentally hazardous fumes may evolve when metal and paint is heated during hot work.

The pollution is both acute and long-term.

Hazards to lives and livelihoods
The toxic shemicals released by ship breaking pollute the soil, rivers and seas in the vicinity. The land around the yards becomes unfit for agriculture. With aquatic life fleeing from the deadly poisons, fishing in the nearby waters is no longer possible. This erosion of their traditional livelihoods drives more and more impoverished people to the dangerous shipyards.

No rules and Permanent Danger
Unlike in Western countries where there are stringent regulations on hazardous substances and health and safety measure, in third world nations there is hardly any waste management procedures. Rules and regulations, if they exist are rarely enforced. Hazardous waste is directly dumped into the sea, and left exposed on the land. For example in India though officially import of toxic ships for scrap is not allowed, sediments in Alang show greater levels of contamination than the most heavily industrialised port areas.
Over 100,000 men and women work in ship breaking yards in Asia. They are mostly migrant laborers, living in inadequate makeshift facilities on or near the yard. There is a lack of basic minimum sanitation, medical or recreation facilities. Even access to safe drinking water is absent. All these factors compound worker's health problems further.

According to estimates only 10% of the 40,000 man and women in Alang have received any kind of training. Untrained and poor, their work involves very hard labor. They dismantle ships virtually with their bare hands, torch-cutting ship steel into small pieces using very little machinery. They face permanent and deadly dangers. There is a clear-cut shortage of PPE (personal Protective Equipments. They don't even have gumboot and helmets. There is no equipment for machine safety, fire safety, chemical safety and water safety. What equipment does exist, is poorly maintained. Work procedures are not in place, and there is no safety control of available tools including cutting tools. There is no work plan or working hours. Sometimes laborers work in the yard for 24 hours without getting any wages for overtime.

So not only are they exposed to hazardous substances, but they're also under the high risk of several kinds of accidents.. On board gases cause fires and explosions, the biggest killers. Steel plates and pieces often fall off ships killing or injuring men and women. Workers sometimes fall to their deaths. Suffocation through inhalation of carbon dioxide is another deadly danger.

Workers constantly breathe in toxic fumes and asbestos dust, not only on the job but also in their sleeping quarters nearby. Torch cutting fumes have smoke and particulates of Manganese, Nickel, Chromium, Iron, Asbestos and Lead. Workers get no compensation for the loss of fingers, toes or even hands. According to sources from the workers that Greenpeace spoke to, 4 to 5 persons are dying every month. Reports of accidents are neither easily obtainable, nor reliable. One out of four Alang-workers is expected to contract cancer due to workplace poisons.

Ship breaking is definitely one of the deadliest industries in the world! More