According to the shipping company’s chief engineer, asbestos inventories have been carried out on all of their ships and suspected or confirmed asbestos has been handled in accordance with the regulations. Places where asbestos has been discovered are marked with special tape, which may not be removed without permission. Despite the inventory, however, asbestos not previously documented was discovered in connection with maintenance work on one of the company’s ships just before Christmas. The company is Swedish and the ship sails under the Swedish flag.

“We had a maintenance company on board that was disassembling a joint in a pipe system, and they suspected that there might be asbestos in the gasket material. Work was stopped and samples were taken that confirmed the presence of asbestos,” says the chief engineer.

After the discovery, a report was drawn up to document and investigate the incident and to inform other ships in the company that could be affected. A shipyard that previously worked on the system involved was also informed, as their personnel could also have been exposed to asbestos. The incident has been reported to the Swedish Transport Agency.

“The gasket had been there since the ship was built. When the asbestos inventory was carried out, it was not suspected that the gasket contained asbestos, or else the gasket was not noticed,” says the chief engineer.