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<p>The mental and physical health of seafarers is an important issue. The Maritime
and Coastguard Agency has just published two complementary publications ‘Wellbeing
at Sea: A guide for organisations’ and ‘Wellbeing at Sea: A pocket guide for seafarers’
to support organisations and individuals to prioritise wellbeing onboard. I welcome
the framework that was issued by the IMO which seeks to address crew change issues
that have emerged due to the pandemic and have had adverse impacts on the health and
wellbeing of seafarers. I have previously written to UN organisations asking for an
international solution to this issue, confirming the UK’s position on crew changes,
and also urged other countries to allow crew changes to take place. DfT Officials
have been working with the Merchant Navy Welfare Board and support the steps taken
by the working group to aid the mental and physical health of seafarers.</p><p> </p><p>In
addition, Government guidance for operators and passengers has been updated to provide
greater detail on how social distancing can be maintained in the maritime sector and
customer-facing roles to reduce the risk to staff health whilst ensuring services
keep running. Under the new PPE guidance, DfT officials are working with industry
to ensure seafarers and passengers have adequate access to face masks prior to boarding
vessels in order to protect their physical health.</p>
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