Monday, October 20, 2014

U. S, Coast Guard has Issued Marine Safety Information Bulletin 17- 14 dated October 17, 2014 Ebola Virus Precautions

The U. S, Coast Guard has issued Marine Safety Information Bulletin 17- 14 dated October 17, 2014 Ebola Virus Precautions – Update at  https://www.uscg.mil/msib/

“The purpose of this Bulletin is to provide an update to the maritime industry with respect to assessing Ebola risks and the responsibility of vessel/facility agents, owners, masters, operators, Area Maritime Security Committee members, and persons to immediately report potential communicable disease hazards to the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”

The MSIB includes key points to remember concerning Ebola.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Truncated Last Name on TWIC Card: Names Limited to 19 Characters

Recently, TSA posted the following information of concern to persons with lengthy last names, at http://www.tsa.gov/stakeholders/transportation-worker-identification-credential-twic. (TSA does not date the bulletins on its website so I am unable to state the exact date of this posting.)

Truncated Last Name on TWIC Card: Since TSA began issuing the new version 2.03 TWIC® cards in May 2014, only the first 14 characters (including spaces, hyphens, and apostrophes) of the applicant’s last name are printed on the card.  The last name is always followed by a comma.  If a person’s last name exceeds 14 characters, all after the 14th character are not printed, and a comma follows immediately after the 14th character.  This has caused some Transportation Workers to have their credentials questioned at facilities because the name on the card does not match the person’s full name.


On October 17, 2014, a system change will be made to extend the last name as printed on the TWIC® to a maximum of nineteen (19) characters, followed immediately by a comma.  Last names containing fewer than 19 characters will continue to be followed immediately by a comma.  TSA is looking into ways to include full last names, regardless of the number of characters, given the limited space available on the card for printing.  Until a satisfactory solution is developed and implemented, the last name printed on TWICs® beginning October 17, 2014 will be limited to the first 19 characters of the last name.

Monday, October 13, 2014

Information on the new policy for the MTSA training course submission and review process posted on Coast Guard’s Homeport site

Information on the new policy for the  MTSA training course submission and review process can be found on the U. S. Coast Guard Homeport site, on the public side, at Missions > Maritime Security > Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) > General Information > Maritime Transportation Security Act Training Courses.

Maritime Transportation Security Act Training Courses

Our nation is more secure today because of the hard work and patriotism of vessel and
facility operators across the country, and the many associated industries and
organizations that have developed to support the goals of the Maritime Transportation
Security Act (MTSA). Training is a key element of the MTSA, and in 2004, the
Maritime Administration (MARAD) established a MTSA Training Course Certification
process. This process required course providers to submit a course to MARAD, who then
contracted with a Coast Guard accepted Quality Standard System (QSS) organization for
review.

As of October 1, 2014, that contract is expired, and course providers should now submit associated with the training course submission and review process. The National Maritime Center will complete the course review for vessel courses. For questions regarding Vessel Security Officer (VSO), Maritime Security for Vessel Personnel with Specific Security Duties (VPSSD) and Maritime Security Awareness
(MSA) should contact:
Robert L Smith
United States Coast Guard
National Maritime Center
100 Forbes DR
Martinsburg, West Virginia 25404-0001
Robert.L.Smith3@uscg.mil

The following courses may be submitted directly to a Coast Guard accepted QSS:
Facility Security Officer (FSO), Company Security Officer (CSO), Maritime Security for
Military, First Responder, and Law Enforcement Personnel (MSLEP), and Maritime
Security for Facility Personnel with Specific Security Duties (FPSSD). Below are the
current Coast Guard accepted QSSs:

Gordon Halsey
Det Norske Veritas Germanischer Lloyd (DNVGL)
North America Advisory Services Maritime
1600 Sawgrass Corporate Parkway, Suite 110
Sunrise, FL 33323

Pavan Lall
American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)
Learning Center Manager
16855 Northchase Drive
Houston, Texas 77060
60
plall@eagle.org

Effective security training for maritime industry professionals is critical to the success of
the nation’s security efforts. The Coast Guard may continue to use successful completion
of a valid course certified under this process or previously certified under the MARAD
contract as meeting certain training requirements under Title 33 Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR) Parts 104 and 105. As the Coast Guard continues to develop
regulations to establish comprehensive FSO training requirements I strongly encourage
them to take approved courses. 

USCG and MARAD Guidance re Ebola Virus Precautions

Both the Maritime Administration and the United States Coast Guard have recently issued bulletins regarding the Ebola guidance.  Each guidance is reproduced below.

From the Coast Guard: https://www.uscg.mil/msib/docs/012_14_8-7-2014.pdf.  This is an August 07, 2014 Marine Safety Information Bulletin, Ebola Virus Precautions.

“To date, there have been 1603 confirmed cases of individuals infected with the Ebola virus worldwide with 887 deaths. The epidemic is slowing in Guinea but continues unabated in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Also, four cases have been reported in Nigeria. There have been two reported cases of Americans serving in health care or missionary work in West Africa but, no reported cases in Department of Defense, Coast Guard, or with U.S. mariners. The Center of Disease Control (CDC) has issued travel warnings. We strongly recommend that personnel traveling to those affected countries review travel alerts issued by the CDC prior to their arrival. Travel alert information can be found at: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices
Some key points to remember concerning Ebola:

• Symptoms include fever, headache, joint and muscle aches, sore throat, and weakness, followed by diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach pain. In addition, skin rash, red eyes, and internal and external bleeding may be seen in some patients.
• Travelers could be infected if they come into contact with blood or body fluids from someone who is sick or has died from Ebola, sick wildlife, or meat from an infected animal. Health care providers caring for Ebola patients and family and friends in close contact with an ill person are at highest risk because they may come into contact with blood or body fluids.
• Monitor your health for 21 days if you were in an area with an Ebola outbreak, especially if you were in contact with blood or body fluids, items that have come in contact with blood or body fluids, animals or raw meat, or hospitals where Ebola patients are being treated.
Vessel owners/operators and local stakeholders should be aware of the following:
• Vessel representatives are required to report sick or deceased crew or passengers within the last 15 days to the CDC under 42 CFR 71.21. Regional CDC quarantine station points of contact can be found at: http://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/QuarantineStationContactListFull.html
• The Coast Guard will review all Notice of Arrivals to determine if a vessel has visited a country impacted by Ebola virus outbreak within its last five ports of call.
• Vessel masters should inform any Coast Guard boarding teams of any ill crewmembers on board.
• Local industry stakeholders, in partnership with their Coast Guard Captain of the Port, should review and be familiar with section 5310 Procedures for Vessel Quarantine and Isolation, and Section 5320 Procedures for security segregation of Vessels in their Area Maritime Security Plan.
• Local industry stakeholders, in partnership with their Coast Guard Captain of the Port, should review and be familiar with their Marine Transportation System Recovery Plan.

Questions regarding this should be forwarded to the Coast Guard Office of Commercial Vessel Compliance, Foreign and Offshore Vessel Division (CG-CVC-2) at 202-372-1218 or by email at CGCVC@uscg.mil.
Captain Kyle McAvoy, U.S. Coast Guard, Chief Office of Commercial Vessel Compliance (CG-CVC), sends.”


Advisory #:         2014-02
Date Issued:       Sep 02 2014

To:          All Operators of U.S.-Flag, Effective U.S. Control Vessels, U.S. Merchant Mariners and Other Maritime Interests

Subject:               Ebola Virus

THIS IS THE FULL TEXT VERSION OF MARAD ADVISORY 2014-02.  THE NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL-INTELLIGENCE AGENCY HAS TRANSMITTED A SHORTENED VERSION.
1. U.S.-FLAG OPERATORS ARE REQUESTED TO FORWARD THIS ADVISORY TO THEIR SHIPS BY THE MOST EXPEDITIOUS MEANS.

2. EBOLA, ALSO KNOWN AS EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE (EVD) AND EBOLA HEMORRHAGIC FEVER, IS A RARE AND DEADLY DISEASE CAUSED BY A VIRAL INFECTION. FIRST DISCOVERED IN 1976 NEAR THE EBOLA RIVER IN WHAT IS NOW THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, THE VIRUS AFFECTS HUMANS AND SOME ANIMALS. SINCE THEN, OUTBREAKS HAVE APPEARED SPORADICALLY IN SEVERAL AFRICAN COUNTRIES. AS OF AUGUST 28, 2014, EBOLA HAS INFECTED 3,069 AND KILLED MORE THAN 1,552 PEOPLE IN FOUR COUNTRIES (GUINEA, LIBERIA, SIERRA LEONE AND NIGERIA) SINCE THE CURRENT OUTBREAK WAS FIRST DETECTED IN MARCH OF THIS YEAR.

3. SYMPTOMS OF EBOLA INCLUDE FEVER AND ADDITIONAL SYMPTOMS SUCH AS SEVERE HEADACHE, MUSCLE PAIN, VOMITING, DIARRHEA, STOMACH PAIN, OR UNEXPLAINED BLEEDING OR BRUISING. SYMPTOMS MAY APPEAR ANYWHERE FROM 2 TO 21 DAYS AFTER EXPOSURE TO EBOLA VIRUS, ALTHOUGH 8-10 DAYS IS THE MOST COMMON.

4. EBOLA IS SPREAD THROUGH DIRECT CONTACT WITH BLOOD OR BODY FLUIDS (URINE, SALIVA, FECES, VOMIT AND SEMEN) FROM A PERSON WHO IS INFECTED AND CURRENTLY HAS SYMPTOMS OF EBOLA. EBOLA MAY ALSO BE TRANSMITTED THROUGH CONTACT WITH OBJECTS (E.G., NEEDLES) CONTAMINATED WITH BLOOD OR BODY FLUIDS FROM A SYMPTOMATIC PERSON OR THROUGH CONTACT WITH, OR CONSUMPTION OF AN ANIMAL INFECTED WITH EBOLA. THE VIRUS ENTERS THE HUMAN BODY THROUGH MUCOUS MEMBRANES (E.G., EYES, NOSE OR MOUTH) OR THROUGH BREAKS IN THE SKIN. PEOPLE ARE INFECTIOUS AS LONG AS THEIR BLOOD AND SECRETIONS CONTAIN THE VIRUS. EBOLA IS NOT AIRBORNE AND IT CANNOT BE TRANSMITTED FROM A PERSON WHO IS NOT SYMPTOMATIC.

5. THE LIKELIHOOD OF CONTRACTING EBOLA IS VERY LOW UNLESS THERE HAS BEEN DIRECT CONTACT WITH THE BLOOD OR BODY FLUIDS FROM A SYMPTOMATIC PERSON OR AN ANIMAL INFECTED WITH EBOLA, OR WITH A CONTAMINATED OBJECT.  SIMPLY TRAVELING TO AN AREA WHERE EBOLA IS PRESENT DOES NOT MEAN A PERSON WILL BE EXPOSED TO THE VIRUS.  GIVEN THE UNPRECEDENTED NUMBERS OF CASES ASSOCIATED WITH THIS OUTBREAK, THE U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC) ISSUED A LEVEL 3 WARNING TO  AVOID NON-ESSENTIAL TRAVEL TO SIERRA LEONE, GUINEA AND LIBERIA, AND A LEVEL 2  ALERT TO PRACTICE ENHANCED PRECAUTIONS IF TRAVELING TO  NIGERIA OR THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO.  PRECAUTIONS INCLUDE PRACTICING CAREFUL HYGIENE, AVOIDING CONTACT WITH BLOOD AND BODY FLUIDS OF PERSONS SICK WITH EBOLA OR WITH ITEMS THAT MAY HAVE BEEN IN CONTACT WITH SUCH FLUIDS, AVOIDING CONTACT WITH WILD ANIMALS AND AVOIDING RAW OR UNDERCOOKED MEAT.  OTHER PRECAUTIONS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE CDC WEBSITE.

6.  THE CDC MAINTAINS UP-TO-DATE WEB RESOURCES WHICH PROVIDE INFORMATION ON THE CURRENT STATUS OF THE OUTBREAK, PREVENTATIVE STEPS THAT CAN BE TAKEN TO REMAIN HEALTHY BEFORE AND DURING TRAVEL, AS WELL AS ACTIONS THAT SHOULD BE TAKEN IF A TRAVELER BECOMES ILL AT ANY POINT.  THESE WEB RESOURCES, ALONG WITH CDC TRAVEL NOTICES, CAN BE FOUND AT THE FOLLOWING WEBSITES: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices  and http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/. FURTHERMORE, U.S. MERCHANT MARINERS WITH ACCESS TO UNCLASSIFIED HTTPS://WWW.INTELINK.GOV CAN ALSO ACCESS FORCE HEALTH PROTECTION ADVISORIES FROM THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR MEDICAL INTELLIGENCE (NCMI) FOR MORE SPECIFIC COUNTRY RELATED INFORMATION AT  HTTPS://WWW.INTELINK.GOV/NCMI/."

7. THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) RECOMMENDS THAT TRAVELERS TO AFFECTED AREAS AVOID ALL CONTACT WITH BLOOD, SECRETIONS, ORGANS OR OTHER BODY FLUIDS OF INFECTED LIVING OR DEAD PERSONS OR ANIMALS, AND ADVISES THAT PERSONS WHO HAVE HAD SUCH CONTACT, OR WHO HAVE AN ILLNESS CONSISTENT WITH EBOLA, SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO TRAVEL EXCEPT AS PART OF AN APPROPRIATE MEDICAL EVACUATION. WHO DOES NOT OTHERWISE RECOMMEND ANY BAN ON INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL OR TRADE.

8. THE US COAST GUARD HAS ISSUED A MARITIME SAFETY INFORMATION BULLETIN ON EBOLA VIRUS PRECAUTIONS, WHICH INCLUDES A REMINDER TO VESSEL MASTERS TO REPORT SICK OR DECEASED CREW MEMBERS OR PASSENGERS TO THE CDC IN ACCORDANCE WITH 42 CFR 71.21.  ADDITIONALY THE COAST GUARD REMINDS OWNERS, OPERATORS, AGENTS, MASTERS OR PERSONS IN CHARGE OF THE REQUIREMENT TO IMMEDIATELY NOTIFY THE NEAREST COAST GUARD SECTOR OFFICE OR GROUP OFFICE OF THE EXISTENCE OF HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS ON THEIR VESSELS AS REQUIRED BY 33 CFR 160.215. THE COAST GUARD CONSIDERS CREWMEMBERS INFECTED WITH EBOLA OR DECEASED FROM ILLNESS RELATED TO EBOLA A HAZARDOUS CONDITION AS DEFINED BY 33 CFR 160.204 DEFINITION OF "HAZARDOUS CONDITION”. THE COAST GUARD WILL CHECK ALL ADVANCE NOTICES OF ARRIVAL TO DETERMINE WHETHER A VESSEL HAS VISITED A COUNTRY IMPACTED BY THE EBOLA VIRUS OUTBREAK WITHIN THE PREVIOUS FIVE PORT CALLS.  THE BULLETIN IS AVAILABLE AT HTTPS://WWW.USCG.MIL/MSIB/DOCS/012_14_8-7-2014.PDF.

9. MARAD ADVISORIES ARE PUBLISHED ON THE MARAD WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.MARAD.DOT.GOV/NEWS_ROOM_LANDING_PAGE/MARITIME_ADVISORIES AND THE MARITIME SAFETY INFORMATION WEB SITE:  HTTP://MSI.NGA.MIL/NGAPORTAL/MSI.PORTAL. UNDER "BROADCAST WARNINGS", SELECT MARAD ADVISORIES TO DETERMINE MARITIME ADVISORIES THAT REMAIN IN FORCE.  CONSULT THE MARITIME ADMINISTRATION WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.MARAD.DOT.GOV OR THE MOST RECENT U.S. NOTICE TO MARINERS.

10.FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT CAPTAIN ROBERT FORD, MARITIME ADMINISTRATION, OFFICE OF SECURITY, CODE: MAR-420, ROOM W25-308, 1200 NEW JERSEY AVE, S.E., WASHINGTON, DC 20590, TELEPHONE 202-366-0223, TLX II 710.822.9426 (MARAD DOT WSH) OR EMAIL:  MARADSECURITY@DOT.GOV.




Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Transfer of MTSA Training Certification from MARAD to USCG

From the United States Maritime Administration Office of Security website:

IMPORTANT NOTICE:  TRANSFER OF MARITIME TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ACT (MTSA) TRAINING CERTIFICATION TO UNITED STATES COAST GUARD—

Effective 30 September 2014 the Maritime Administration will transfer to the United States Coast Guard the certification of Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) maritime security training.

The MTSA courses affected by this change are as follows:
Facility Security Officer (FSO)
Company Security Officer (CSO)
Maritime Security Awareness (MSA)
Maritime Security for Vessel Personnel with Specific Security Duties (VPSSD)
Maritime Security for Military, First Responder, and Law Enforcement Personnel (MSLEP)
Maritime Security for Facility Personnel with Specific Security Duties (FPSSD)

Private and public organizations seeking certification for the above training courses should consult the United States Coast Guard's website for information on how to submit courses for certification.  The Coast Guard point of contact is:
LCDR Jennifer Osburn
US Coast Guard Headquarters
Office of Port Facility & Compliance (CG-FAC)
2703 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave SE
Washington, DC 20593-7118
Mail Stop 7501
Tel (202) 372-1132
Fax (202) 372-8428

Jennifer.M.Osburn@uscg.mil