Supreme Court E-Library
Information At Your Fingertips

Pursuant to POEA Governing Board Resolution No. 14, Series of 2014, dated 04 July 2014 on the imposition of a deployment ban on newly-hired workers for Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and other countries contaminated with Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) as declared by the World Health Organization (WHO), the following guidelines are hereby issued:

1. As a precaution, all shipping principals / employers with ships operating or calling on ports of the above-affected countries shall provide seafarers with medical masks, gloves, goggles, as necessary, to limit the possibility of exposure or contamination with the EVD.
2. Seafarers shall be disallowed from availing of any shore leave and crew change shall not be allowed in any of the ports of the above-affected countries;
3. It shall be the responsibility of the Master and / or the designated ship medical officer to report any case involving crewmember/s who become symptomatic of EVD (those who have fever, headache, intense weakness, joint and muscle pains and sore throat) to their principal / employer who in turn are required to coordinate with appropriate international marine medical providers to seek their guidance on ways to manage an EVD contamination on board. Every precaution should be exercised to ensure that spread of EVD is prevented.
4. Principals / employers and manning agencies are requested to consider and disseminate, as a matter of urgency, the following information to their ships and hired seafarers prior to deployment:
   
   
   1. The Master must ensure that the crew are aware of the risks, how the virus can be spread and how to mitigate the risk;
   2. The ISPS Code requirements on ensuring that unauthorized personnel are not allowed to board the ship should be strictly enforced throughout the duration of the ship’s stay in port;
   3. After departure, the crew should be aware of the symptoms and report any occurring symptoms immediately to the persons / authorities in charge of medical are onboard.
      
      
5. Principals / employers shall report any incident of EVD contamination on any of their ships. Complete details of the crew affected and the actions taken by the company shall be submitted to the Office of the POEA Administrator, who in turn shall provide copies to the Departments of Health and Foreign Affairs and the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration. Reports to the POEA shall be submitted through electronic mail: admin_cacdac@poea.gov.ph or marketing_poea@yahoo.com.ph
6. Manning agencies are directed to include EVD in their Pre-Departure Orientation Seminars (PDOS) using the WHO / DOH-published information about the disease.
7. All concerned are hereby directed to disseminate further advisories on EVD to eliminate the fear among seafarers regarding the possible EVD contamination from, the following agencies / organizations:

   1. World Health Organization (WHO)
      Ebola Virus Disease Fact Sheet No. 103
      http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/
   2. Department of Health (DOH)
      Ebola Advisory (Tagalog Version)
      httpz//www.healthpromo.doh.gov.ph/ebola-advisory-tagalog/