Textbook of Maritime Medicine

The four international maritime conventions usually regarded as the most important are three IMO conventions and one ILO convention:

• SOLAS 1974
• STCW 1978
• MARPOL 1973
• MLC 2006

This list applies to a general maritime perspective, and the list looks slightly different when we confine it to health issues, including health aspects of safety.

There is no international convention of maritime medicine, but we find aspects of maritime medicine and maritime occupational health topics in many different conventions, as exemplified with the below listed conventions of IMO which, i.a., addresses topics of maritime health.

• The SOLAS 1974 deals with life saving appliances on board ship,
• the STCW 1978 deals with health, training and competence requirements for seafarers,
• the INMARSAT 1976 deals with the emergency communication system, of great importance to the Telemedical Maritime Assistance Services,
• the SAR 1979 convention deals with maritime search and rescue,
• the CSC 1972 deals with safety for human life in the transport and handling of containers
• the SFV 1977 deals with life saving appliances, emergency procedures and radio communication on fishing vessels.

Aspects of maritime medicine are indirectly included in other conventions as well. Such aspects are relevant to for example:

• safe navigation (fatigue, night vision, colour vision, contrast vision)
• watch schemes,
• minimum manning,
• construction of ships (hospital construction, man-machine interface),
• environmental factors (that could cause illness or impair working ability).

A list of conventions which in some way discuss aspects of maritime medicine would probably include most maritime conventions.

A very importanet instrument,although not being an international convention, is the WHO International Health Regulations /IHR), which is an extremely important tool for the prevention of. protection against, control of and public health response to the international spread of disease.