Marine Atlantic workers who’ve toiled on the asbestos-laden ferries that sail between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia are still awaiting the asbestos testing that was promised to them last year.

According to a Canadian Broadcasting System article, the company responsible for the ferry service posted warnings about asbestos on one of its vessels, the MV Atlantic Freighter, in October 2007 and promised a month later that they would test almost 1,000 workers for exposure. Currently, only 72 of those employees have been tested.

Canadian Auto Workers union representative Sue Irvine, who represents about 600 of the employees, says that knowing they may have breathed in asbestos has created much stress for the workers.

“There are many [for whom] … this is occupying their every moment,” Irvine told CBC News. “Wondering if they brought home asbestos to their family; wondering if they’re going to become older and suddenly very sick from asbestos exposure; wondering what the company is going to do to look after them.”

Irvine points out that the workers most likely to have been affected are among those still waiting to be tested. She also says the results of the testing done so far “worry” her.

“Out of the 72 people [tested], somewhere in the ball park of … 59 … completed the full function testing — the x-ray and everything,” Irvine told CBC News. “[Of those], there may have been 4 or 5 that showed potential asbestos exposure, with a couple of those people testing positive for asbestos.”

A company spokesperson for Marine Atlantic maintains that plans are still under way to initiate more testing.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 26th, 2008 at 10:39 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.