Could owners and crewing agencies do more to support less able seafarers?

Could owners and crewing agencies do more to support less able seafarers?
Felicity Landon

The rules are clear: all seafarers must pass strict medical examinations before they can set foot on a vessel.

The IMO’s International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) re- quires every seafarer serving at sea to hold a valid medical certificate.
In an attempt to ‘harmonise’ national fitness standards for seafarers, the IMO and the International Labour Organization published new Guidelines on Medical Examinations in 2013, taking STCW and also the Maritime Labour Convention into account.

“The aim of the medical examination is to ensure that the seafarer being examined is medically fit to perform his or her routine and emergency duties at sea and is not suffering from any medical condition likely to be aggravated by service at sea, to render him or her unfit for service or to endanger the health of other persons on board,” the guidelines state.

But are the requirements too inflexible? Could less able seafarers find a role onboard? Is there a case to challenge the accepted approach?

“Obviously disability is an evolving concept and maybe ten years ago nobody would have even thought to ask the question, because it was beyond their imagination,” says Jürgen Menze, disability inclusion officer in the ILO’s conditions of work and equality department. “But asking these questions is important because it can help to promote the opportunities for disabled people and highlight the issue.”

more...https://www.missiontoseafarers.org/the-sea/enabling-the-disabled