Marine Atlantic workers, truckers testing for asbestos exposure

PORT AUX BASQUES, Nfld. — Seventy-two employees and long-time passengers of Marine Atlantic will undergo testing to check for illnesses caused by prolonged asbestos exposure, the Halifax Chronicle Herald reports.

The newspaper says that the screening will be offered to hundreds former employees, contractors, dock workers, and truckers who frequently used the North Sydney-Port aux Basques Atlantic Freighter, which carries mainly drop trailers.

The vessel is now out of service for its normal winter shutdown.

The Canadian Auto Workers union, which represents 600 workers, says up to 1,000 current and former employees could be affected.

The Crown corporation recently confirmed that the toxic material was found in the engine room, as well as along the wall panels and bulkheads of below-deck passageways.

Recent tests indicated acceptable levels of asbestos in the air, however.
“Our concern is not how the air was now that it’s encapsulated, it’s the 15 to 20 years we weren’t aware it was there,” said a union spokesperson.

— from the Chronicle Herald