ILA-USMX Joint Safety Committee
Working Together For The Benefit Of All
ILA-USMX OSH Alerts are devised to reflect the best possible information and guidance, and are products of diligent research and
the most up to date subject matter knowledge. Consequently, while the information contained herein is believed to be accurate, owing
to a host of factors ILA-USMX can convey no direct or implied warranty relative to the reliance of parties upon content.
OSH ALERT 2020-03 [27 January 2020]
The "Novel Coronavirus"
Countries with Confirmed Cases to Date
As the ILA~USMX Joint Safety Committee begins to develop this OSH Alert, we are
aware of five (5) confirmed cases of the Coronavirus presently on U.S. soil. We are also
aware of the situation on the ground at Wuhan Province, China (inclusive of Wuhan
port), wherein thousands of confirmed cases have been established. The situation there
is extremely serious.
At present, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has implemented detection
activities (passenger screening) at several U.S. airports. That's wise, inasmuch as the
threat of importation there is quite significant in terms of numbers. As yet, similar
measures have not yet been implemented at U.S. seaports where the importation threat
is less numerically severe.
The U.S. Maritime Administration and local Port Authorities are, however, monitoring
unfolding circumstances very carefully.
At present we would like to provide our management and labor stakeholders with access
to CDC's increasingly active Coronavirus webpage, which provides an amazingly
complete amount of information about this threat:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
Our best (conservative) advice: Continue to monitor the CDC webpage for updates. Also,
port workers/managers obliged to interact with ship's personnel aboard a vessel that
called at Wuhan port, China recently, should wear a simple filtration facemask
(in line
with manufacturer's recommendations)
during that interaction and avoid direct (skin to
skin) contact.
Got a question about this particular subject? Write to the JSC at: blueoceana@optonline.net
