Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006

Q:-With reference to Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006. briefly discuss the following.

1.  Minimum requirements for seafarers working on a ship.
2. Conditions of employment.
3. Accornodation and Recreational facilities,
4. Health protection, welfare and social security protection 

TITLE 1:- Minimum requirement for seafarers to work on a ship

1. Age – Minimum age is 16 year
2. Medical certificate – Seafarer should be medically fit
3. Training and qualification – Seafarer should be duly trained and certified to work on board ship.
4. Recruitment and placement – License to agencies 

Regulation 1.1 - Minimum age

Purpose:-To ensure that no under-age persons work on a ship

• Under  this minimum age for a seafarer is defined as 16 years to work on board a ship.
• Also night work of seafarers under age of 18 years is prohibited.

Regulation 1.2 - Medical certificate

Purpose:- To ensure that all seafarers are medically fit to perform their duties at sea

This regulation deals with medical fitness of a seafarer. Seafarer shall not work on a ship unless they are certified as medically fit to perform their duties. The standard of medical examination is without any prejudice to STCW 1978 as amended. A medical certificate issued in accordance with the requirement of STCW shall be accepted by competent authority. Certificate should be issued by duly qualified medical practitioner.

Regulation 1.3 - Training and qualifications

Purpose: To ensure that seafarers are trained or qualified to carry out their duties on board ship

This regulation deals with Training and qualification of seafarer. Seafarer shall not work on a ship unless they are trained or certified as competent or otherwise qualified to perform their duties. Training and certification should be in accordance with instruments adopted by IMO.

Regulation 1.4 - Recruitment and placement

Purpose: To ensure that seafarers have access to an efficient and well-regulated seafarer recruitment and placement system

This regulation deals with the recruitment and placement services. All seafarers shall have access to an efficient,adequate and accountable system for finding employment on board ship without charge to the seafarer. Each member state has to ensure that all private seafarer recruitment and placement services shall be operated only with a standard system of licensing or certification. Member state has to ensure that no fees or other charges are being paid by seafarer except for national statutory medical certificate, national seafarer book and a passport. Member state has to make sure that seafarers are informed of their rights and duties under their employment agreement before the process of engagement.

TITLE 2:- Conditions of employment

1. Seafarer employment agreement.
2. Wages.
3. Hours of work and hours of rest.
4. Entitlement to leave.
5. Repatriation.
6. Seafarer compensation for the ship’s loss or foundering.
7. Manning levels.
8. Career and skill development and opportunities for seafarer employment 

Regulation 2.1 – Seafarers’ employment agreements

Purpose: To ensure that seafarers have a fair employment agreement

• The terms and conditions for employment of a seafarer shall be clear written in a legally enforceable agreement. 
• It should be agreed by seafarer and he should has the opportunity to review and seek advice on the terms and conditions. 
• The agreement should be signed both by seafarer and the shipowner or representative of shipowner. 
• Both should have one set of original signed agreement copy.
•  Seafarer employment agreement should contain his full name, DOB, and birth place, shipowner name and address, capacity of seafarer to which he is employed, amount of his wages, amount of paid annual leave and termination of agreement.

Regulation 2.2 – Wages

Purpose: To ensure that seafarers are paid for their services

• All seafarer shall be paid for their work regularly and in full in accordance with their employment agreement.
•  Member states have to make sure that payments to be made to seafarer at no greater than monthly basis. 
• Seafarer has to be given with full account of their wages on monthly basis.
•  Also seafarer should be able to remit full or part of their earning to their families, dependents or legal beneficiaries.

Regulation 2.3 – Hours of work and hours of rest

Purpose: To ensure that seafarers have regulated hours of work or hours of rest

The limit of hours of work or rest shall be as follows-
a) Maximum hour of work shall not exceed

1. 14 hours in any 24 hours period and
2. 72 hours in any seven day period

OR
b) Minimum hours of rest shall not be less than

1. 10 hours in any 24 hours period and
2.  77 hours in any seven day period

   Hours of rest may be divided into no more than 2 periods, one of which shall be at least 6 hours in length and interval between consecutive periods of rest shall not exceed 14 hours.

Regulation 2.4 – Entitlement to leave

Purpose: To ensure that seafarers have adequate leave

Each member state shall require that seafarer employed on their ships are given paid annual leave. Seafarer shall be granted shore leave to benefit their health and well being and with the operational requirement of their position.

Regulation 2.5 – Repatriation

Purpose: To ensure that seafarers are able to return home

Seafarer have a right to be repatriated at no cost to themselves in circumstances and conditions specified in code. Member states are required to provide financial security to ensure that seafarer are duly repatriated in accordance with the code.

Regulation 2.6 – Seafarer compensation for the ship’s loss or foundering

Purpose: To ensure that seafarers are compensated when a ship is lost or has foundered

Seafarers are entitled to adequate compensation in the case of injury, loss or unemployment arising from the ship's loss or foundering. Shipowner has to pay indemnity against unemployment to the seafarer.

Regulation 2.7 – Manning levels

Purpose: To ensure that seafarers work on board ships with sufficient personnel for the

Each member shall require that ships flying their flags have sufficient number of seafarer employed on board to ensure that ships are operated safely, efficiently and with due regard to security under all conditions

Regulation 2.8 – Career and skill development and opportunities for seafarers‘ employment

Purpose: To promote career and skill development and employment opportunities for seafarers

Each member state shall have national policies to promote employment in the maritime sector and to encourage career and skill development and greater employment opportunities for seafarer.

TITLE 3:- Accommodation, recreation facilities, food and catering

1. Accommodation and  recreation facilities
2. Food and catering

Regulation 3.1 – Accommodation and recreational facilities

Purpose: To ensure that seafarers have decent accommodation and recreational facilities on board

Title 3, Regulation 3.1 addresses vessel design issues related to quality of life at sea, including the physical design of seafarer accommodation areas and the characteristics of the ambient environment (e.g., wholebody vibration, noise, indoor climatic variables, and lighting) which seafarers are exposed to during rest and recreation. requiring that ships that fly its flag:

•  (a) meet minimum standards to ensure that any accommodation for seafarers, working or living on board, or both, is safe, decent and in accordance with the relevant provisions of this Standard; and
•  (b) are inspected to ensure initial and ongoing compliance with those standards.

The competent authority shall pay particular attention to ensuring implementation of the requirements of this Convention relating to:

•  (a) the size of rooms and other accommodation spaces;
•  (b) heating and ventilation;
•  (c) noise and vibration and other ambient factors;
•  (d) sanitary facilities;
•  (e) lighting; and
•  (f) hospital accommodation.

Regulation 3.2 – Food and catering

Purpose: To ensure that seafarers have access to good quality food and drinking water provided under regulated hygienic conditions

  Each Member shall ensure that ships that fly its flag meet the following minimum standards:

•  (a) food and drinking water supplies, having regard to the number of seafarers on board, their religious requirements and cultural practices as they pertain to food, and the duration and nature of the voyage, shall be suitable in respect of quantity, nutritional value, quality and variety;
•  (b) the organization and equipment of the catering department shall be such as to permit the provision to the seafarers of adequate, varied and nutritious meals prepared and served in hygienic conditions; and
•  (c) catering staff shall be properly trained or instructed for their positions.

TITLE 4 :- Health protection, medical care, welfare and social security protection

1. Medical care on board ship and ashore
2. Ship owner’s liability
3. Health and safety protection and accident protection
4. Access to shore based welfare facilities
5. Social security

Regulation 4.1 – Medical care on board ship and ashore

Purpose: To protect the health of seafarers and ensure their prompt access to medical care on board ship and ashore

Each Member shall ensure that measures providing for health protection and medical care, including essential dental care, for seafarers working on board a ship that flies its flag are adopted which:

•  ensure the application to seafarers of any general provisions on occupational health protection and medical care relevant to their duties.
•  give seafarers the right to visit a qualified medical doctor or dentist without delay in ports of call, where practicable;
•  health protection services while a seafarer is on board ship or landed in a foreign port are provided free of charge to seafarers; and
• are not limited to treatment of sick or injured seafarers but include measures of a preventive character such as health promotion and health education programmes.

Regulation 4.2 – Shipowners’ liability

Purpose: To ensure that seafarers are protected from the financial consequences of sickness, injury or death occurring in connection with their employment

:

•  shipowners shall be liable to bear the costs for seafarers working on their ships in respect of sickness and injury of the seafarers occurring between the date of commencing duty and the date upon which they are deemed duly repatriated, or arising from their employment between those dates;
•  shipowners shall provide financial security to assure compensation in the event of the death or long-term disability .
• shipowners shall be liable to defray the expense of medical care, including medical treatment and the supply of the necessary medicines and therapeutic appliances, and board and lodging away from home until the sick or injured seafarer has recovered, or until the sickness or incapacity has been declared of a permanent character; and
•  shipowners shall be liable to pay the cost of burial expenses in the case of death occurring on board or ashore during the period of engagement.

Regulation 4.3 – Health and safety protection and accident prevention

Purpose: To ensure that seafarers’ work environment on board ships promotes occupational safety and health

• on-board programmes for the prevention of occupational accidents, injuries and diseases and for continuous improvement .
• requirements for inspecting, reporting and correcting unsafe conditions and for investigating and reporting on-board occupational accidents.

Regulation 4.4 – Access to shore-based welfare facilities

Purpose: To ensure that seafarers working on board a ship have access to shore-based facilities and services to secure their health and well-being

• Each Member shall require, where welfare facilities exist on its territory, that they are available for the use of all seafarers, irrespective of nationality, race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion or social origin and irrespective of the flag State of the ship on which they are employed or engaged or work.
• Each Member shall promote the development of welfare facilities in appropriate ports of the country and determine, after consultation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned, which ports are to be regarded as appropriate.
•  Each Member shall encourage the establishment of welfare boards which shall regularly review welfare facilities and services to ensure that they are appropriate in the light of changes in the needs of seafarers resulting from technical, operational and other developments in the shipping industry

Regulation 4.5 – Social security

Purpose: To ensure that measures are taken with a view to providing seafarers with access to social security protection

The branches to be considered with a view to achieving progressively comprehensive social security protection  are: medical care, sickness benefit, unemployment benefit, old-age benefit, employment injury benefit, family benefit, maternity benefit, invalidity benefit and survivors’ benefit.

Refrigeration gases used on board vessels -ozone depleting potential of conventional refer gases

 Q:-With respect to refrigeration gases used on board vessels answer the following.Explain ozone depleting potential of conventional ref gases.

Name alternative refrigeration gases available and being used on board Explain the steps you will take to ensure that release of refrigeration gases from the plant is minimised during normal operation and during maintenance activities.

ANSWER :-

• The chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochloroflurocarbons (HCFCs) are  referred to as ozone depleting substances (ODS), because once these gases are released into the environment and reach the stratosphere, they interact with the ozone layer and destroy ozone molecules. ODS lifetime in the  stratosphere is between 100 and 400 years.
•  An ODS molecule has potential to destroy ozone molecules during its entire lifetime.Therefore,various CFCs and HCFCs are assigned Ozone Depletion Potentials (ODP) depending on their potential (specified relative to CFC-11) to cause ozone depletion in the stratosphere.
•  Ozone is a gas composed of three bonded oxygen atoms (O3).In the Earth’s atmosphere, ozone is formed from molecular oxygen (O2) in the  reactions initiated by the UV light.
•   Ozone can be found in two levels, at ground level and in the Earth’s upper atmosphere, referred to as the stratosphere. At ground level, ozone is a  significant air pollutant, forming smog. In the stratosphere it is referred to as the ozone layer.
•  The ozone layer encircles the stratosphere at approximately 10 km above ground level. It filters ultraviolet (UV) radiation reducing the amount of radiation reaching ground level. The depletion of the ozone layer exposes living   organisms to high levels of the harmful UV-B radiation.
  

  • • • 

OZONE DEPLETION POTENTIAL

           Ozone depleting substances (ODS) vary in their capacity to destroy ozone molecules. So scientists have developed a method of characterizing the relative  depletion caused by different ODS. 

           The ODP or Ozone Depletion Potential, is the potential for a single  molecule of the refrigerant to destroy the Ozone Layer.All of the refrigerants use R11 as a datum reference and thus R11 has an ODP of 1.0. 

    The less the value of the ODP the better the refrigerant is for the ozone layer and therefore the environment.

GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL

      Global warming potential (GWP) is a measure of how much a given mass of a gas contributes to global warming. GWP is a relative scale which compares the amount of heat trapped by green house gas to the amount of heat trapped in the same mass of CO2.

ODP and GWP of conventional refrigerant gas are as follows:-

     Gas                                           ODP                                     GWP

R-11                                               1.0                                           4000

R-12                                               1.0                                          2400

R-22                                               0.05                                        1700

Halon 1211    4

Halon 1301                  16

Because of much higher  ODP halon is banned.

Alternate gases available on board which are used in refrigeration systems are :-

   

•  R 134a (ODP=0)is long term replacement for R-12 and is best performed in medium and high temperature application.
• R 410A (ODP=0) is twice as efficient as R-22 but is recommended for new systems only.
• R 407C (ODP=0) is suitable for medium and high temperature application. And is   suitable for new system and for R-22  change over.
• R 404A (ODP=0) is suitable for low and medium temperature application. It is  suitable for new marine system.

As per Annex VI , Regulation 12:- Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS)

1.Existing systems and equipment using ODS are permitted to continue in service and may be recharged as necessary. However, the deliberate discharge of ODS to the atmosphere is prohibited.

2.Maintenance, servicing and repair work shall be carried out without releasing any substantial quantity of refrigerant.

3.When servicing or decommissioning systems or equipment containing ODS the gases are to be duly collected in a controlled manner and, if not to be reused onboard, are to be landed to appropriate reception facilities for banking or destruction.

4.Any redundant equipment or material containing ODS is to be landed ashore for    appropriate decommissioning or disposal. The latter also applies when a ship is dismantled at the end of its service life.

To minimize the release of refrigerant gas from plant following steps should be taken:

During operation ---

• Most important to maintain daily log of referent commonly called reefer log .This is to be maintain by duty engineer and cross checked by chief engineer to  ensure effective monitoring and early detection of any abnormality which can lead to gas leak to atmosphere.
• During normal operation loss of refrigerant from leaking joints, seals, gaskets and cracked pipe should be checked.
• Loss of refrigerant from safety relief valve, to overcome this pressure to be  maintain in range.
• Damaged mechanical seals on open type compressor are frequent source of  refrigerant leaks.  A clean dry system is essential for prolonged mechanical seal effectiveness to eliminate   emission. Compressor oils used for HCFC and HFC will absorb moisture readily and must keep dry to prevent refrigerant  decomposition.
• Excessive vibration and excess water pressure should not be allowed in the  condenser to avoid tube failure.
• Leak testing should be carried out regularly. Testing can be done by bubble testing with soap solution or by electronic leak detection.

During maintenance ----

• Loss of small quantities of refrigerant from charging lines during charging has to be avoid by taken proper care of connection .
• Before doing any maintenance gas should be recovered and not leaked in  environment. There is recovery cylinder is there on board and a vacuums pump to   recover gas from system.
• During maintenance compatible gaskets should be used which are compatible with the gas and oil used in the system.
• Evacuate the hoses before disconnecting temporary equipment.
• Practice recovery and recycling when recharging dryers and filters.  

Records and documents to be maintained:-

a) A list of equipment containing ODS should be maintained.

b) If the ship has any rechargeable system containing ODS, then an ODS record book should be  maintained. This record book shall be approved by administration.

c) Check for gas leaks to be carried out regularly and recored.

d) Entries in ODS record book shall be recorded in terms of mass( kg) of substance in respect of-

1.  Recharge of equipment 
2.  Repair or maintenance
3.  Discharge of ODS to atmosphere either deliberate or non deliberate 
4.  Discharge of ODS to land based facilities
5.  Supply of ODS to ship