QUESTIONS.
1a, b, c Relevant
2a, b, c Relevant
3 Relevant
4 Marine Engineers – Watch-keeping in machinery spaces of HMA ships where all
systems were lagged with various asbestos products up to and including the 1970’s
For shipwrights, during your initial training you also carried out watch-keeping duties.
5. Marine Engineers – when not watch-keeping would carry out regular maintenance which called for removal and replacement of various lagging materials. Same goes for chippies. At all other times, with the exception of any time spent on the uppers, everybody had environmental exposure for 24 hours a day as asbestos lagged pipe systems ran throughout all passageways and most living spaces. (This is most important)
6. NO But almost every compartment had some lagging in it.
7. Put down when you joined your first ship
8. You could almost tick the 1st five boxes as the dust you saw throughout the ship was normal domestic dust which contained a percentage of asbestos fibres (whenever it was tested). It was more apparent, and more heavily contaminated when guns were fired or the ship was vibrating due to high speed or heavy seas.
9. Throughout your naval career. Total up time spent on ships & depots if you were exposed when renovating buildings or depot systems.
10a YES
10b You believe that hundreds, if not thousands, of naval personnel have either died of or are suffering from asbestos related diseases.
11a If YES answer 11b
12a 1 NO, 2 NO, 3 YES IF ENG STOREMAN, 4 YES, 5 YES, 6 MAYBE, 7 YES, 8MAYBE
9 MAYBE, 10 MAYBE, 11 YES (capstan brakes etc), 12 YES, 13 YES, 14 MAYBE,
15 YES, 16 MAYBE
12b Attach resume qualifying any YES answer to the above.
13a YES or NO, we were not usually given adequate protection (the small painters masks were as good as useless).
14a & b Answer if relevant
15 Give employment details in full
16 16a to 20b not considered relevant
21 to 27 Smoking history as relevant to yourself.
28a to 43 As relevant to yourself
44 YES
45 Tick very high risk to health
46 Tick very high
47 How do you feel. As a matter of fact, if you are checked and found to be clear of any asbestos related diseases it can be detrimental to your immune system if your worry unnecessarily.
48 & 49 In my opinion there is no SAFE minimum level of exposure.
50 If not disturbed in any way should remain safe. It would be interesting to know when companies such as Hardies stopped using asbestos as a binding agent in fibro cement sheets.
IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS WHATEVER IN FILLING OUT THE FORM OR FOLLOWING UP WITH A CLAIM IF YOU ARE FOUND TO HAVE SOME ASBESTOS RELATED DISEASE DON’T HESITATE TO GIVE ME A RING ON 02 6241 5329, OR “E” MAIL ME AT jambazi@apex.net.au.
Peter Burn Senior Stoker
Please note, these answers are forwarded on by this website as helpful information. If you have any queries, please contact the author.