Shipyard Workers

Shipyards are those facilities predominantly building or repairing commercial vessels more than 65 feet in length. Shipyard workers build and repair such vessels, and are qualified in various specialties ranging from welding, painting, electrical work, plumbing, carpentry, architecture and engineering. Generally, shipyards have on-shore facilities for electrical and machine work, carpentry, steel fabrication, pipe-fitting, painting, and sand blasting of small parts. Most of these activities are conducted indoors, although sometimes painting and sandblasting are conducted outdoors. Shipyards also use and store oils, antifreeze, solvents and paints.

Shipyards also clean, repair and paint hulls. This is usually done in dry docks or marine railways. Dry docks are floating docks that sit in the water. When a ship is floated into the dock, air is pumped into ballast tanks beneath the dock, causing the dock and the ship to rise out of the water. Marine railways sit on the edge of the water. Ships are attached to steel cables and pulled out of the water up on to shore. In both cases, hulls are cleaned by high and low pressure water guns, and by sand blasting. Painting of ship hulls is done mainly with spray guns, although occasionally hand painting occurs.