Asbestos

[Robert George Young]

Was asbestos prevalent on certain ships?
In the old days..

Thank you

[John Pruden]

evey pipe were lagged with it in dry dock the dust would be everywhere i have lung cancer but the first thing a doctor asks do you smoke? not did you ever clean a deep tank that was full of asbestos dust or wipe your cabin floor that was dusty i have educated a few quacks on my visits to clinics?? jp

[Captain Kong]

it was also used as insulation in cabin bulkheads, even QE2 had it inside the bulkheads

[Tony Taylor]

Historically, the authorities have known about the asbestos hazard since about 1914 but it would appear that there was no realistic alternative for insulation for many years, and so became accepted as there was no hullabaloo like in more recent years.
Personally, I have sailed on many vessels where asbestos would come down like snow especially whilst going astern and we had no option but to remain at the controls. Asbestos gloves, for handling hot bits of kit, woven blankets of asbestos to wrap around pipes or provide a heat shield to crawl over while wriggling into a hot boiler etc. etc.
I had a friend who was an engineer with Weirs pumps, died from asbestosis aged 42, a direct result from having to remove asbestos from hot boiler feed pumps etc, on ships and power stations.
A well known story of a housewife who died from it because she washed her husbands boiler suit - he worked at an asbestos factory in Washington (Co. Durham at that time).
If you have Artexed ceilings that are more than about 20 years old then there is a strong possibility that they will contain asbestos, I don't know the entire list but it was used in lots of things you would not expect.

[J Gowers]

I served my time with the MOD in ROF Bishopton and the coal fired boilers were lagged with blue asbestos. Later at sea I can still remember repacking steam valves using, you guessed it asbestos packing and using asbestos gloves. Later again I went offshore and many of the older rigs had asbestos sheeting, instead of plaster board, in the accommodation and even some had floor tiles with asbestos content, the tiles looked like normal linoleum type floor tiles but had a high asbestos content.

On one rig in the North Sea about 25 years ago we removed the asbestos sheeting in the control room and a specialised company came out to do the job. They had loads of PPE and build a polyethene habitat around the area to be removed. All the asbestos as it was removed was wrapped on polyethene sheeting. A few years later I had to get my garage roof replaced, small garage about 2.5m by 5m, and it was asbestos. I hunted through the yellow pages and eventually found a company licensed to do the job. I told my wife that they would come with PPE etc. So they day they arrived I asked if the would like a cup of tea, by the time I made the tea the asbestos was removed and gone. I was assured it went to an approved dump but I had my doubts.

[Doc Vernon]

Did not do any jobs at Sea that involved such, but on Land i worked for R J Southeys in Durban on the Cat Cracker Unit owned by Shell Corporation, and all their Pipes were lagged with Asbestos , there were Miles and Miles of the Pipes, took a very long time with Lagging Crews on it all and every day! So one can imagine the Asbestos we got down us ! But thats life! In those days there was not all the safety and may i say fuss !
Cheers

[j.sabourn]

Forget what year it was but there was a time specified date and year, that all seamen had to have claims in to claim compensation for contacting the disease. Long time past it’s limits. Would be hard to put in a claim today methinks . JS.

[happy daze john in oz]

That stuff was at one time just about everywhere.
On ships, in factories and even in homes.
Removal is still taking place in some parts and suspect it will for years to come.
Every old building demolished will have some in it.
There will still be a few old ships with it, the ferry here from Melbourne to Tassies was original one on the Italian run in the medi, old enough to still have some.

[John Pruden]

Historically, the authorities have known about the asbestos hazard since about 1914 but it would appear that there was no realistic alternative for insulation for many years, and so became accepted as there was no hullabaloo like in more recent years.

If you have Artexed ceilings that are more than about 20 years old then there is a strong possibility that they will contain asbestos, I don't know the entire list but it was used in lots of things you would not expect.

tony the first artex was full of blue asbestos that was a killer over my many years of plastering people would say scrape it of no chance cover it up never scrape it of it will kill you??jp

[Des Taff Jenkins]

I was able to advise a seaman who had been in the Vindi with me many years before about the fact that asbestos was prevalent on the steam winches, which give his lawyer enough for a claim for his lung cancer. I was also privileged to be part of the team that got rid of it out of the building industry in N.S.W. It is still in many houses, in fact the woman next door is now getting it removed.
Des