Hygiene of the ship and welfare of the crew
IN MS ACT-Under section VII-Seamen and Apprentices, under sub section-Provisions, Health and Accommodation describes about the Hygiene and welfare of the Crew
168.Ships to have sufficient provisions and water.-(1) All Indian ships and all ships upon which seamen have been engaged shall have on board sufficient provisions and water of good quality and fit for the use of the crew on the scale specified in the agreement with the crew.
(2) If any person making an inspection under section 176 finds the provisions or water to be of bad quality and unfit for use or deficient in quantity, he shall signify it in writing to the master of the ship and may, if he thinks fit, detain the ship until the defects are remedied to his satisfaction.
(3) The master shall not use any provisions or water so signified to be of bad quality and shall in lieu of such provisions or water; provide other proper provisions or water and he shall, if the provisions or water by signified to be deficient in quantity, procedure the requisite quantity of any provisions or water to cover the deficiency.
(4) The person making the inspection shall enter a statement of the result of the inspection in the official log book, and shall, if he is not the shipping master, send a report thereof to the shipping master and that report shall be admissible in evidence in any legal proceeding.
(5) If the inspection was made in pursuance of a request by the members of the crew and the person making the inspection certifies in the statement of the result of the inspection that the complaint was false and ether frivolous or vexatious, every member of the crew who made the request shall be liable to forfeit to the owner out of his wages a sum not exceeding one week’s wages.
(6) The master of the ship and any other person having charge of any provisions or water liable to inspection under this section shall give the person making the inspection every reasonable facility for the purpose.
169.Allowances for short or bad provisions.-
(1) In either of the following case, that is to say,-
(a) If during the voyage the allowance of any of the provisions for which a seaman has by his agreement stipulated is reduced, or (b) if it is shown that any of those provisions are or have during the voyage been bad in quality or unfit for use, the seaman shall receive by way of compensation for that reduction or bad quality according to the time of its continuance, sums in accordance with such scale as may be prescribed, to be paid to him in addition to, and to be recoverable as, wages.
(2) If it is shown to the satisfaction of the court before which the case is tried that any provisions, the allowance of which has been reduced, could not be procured or supplied in proper quantities, and that ;ripper and equivalent substitutes were supplied in lieu there of, the court shall take those circumstances into consideration in making an order.
170.Foreign-going Indian ship to carry duly certificated cook.-(1) With effect from such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify every foreign-going Indian ship of such tonnage as may be prescribed shall be provided with, and shall carry, a cook duly certificated under this Act.(2) The Central Government may make rules specifying the qualifications, experience or sea service which may be required from person who wish to obtain certificates of competency as cooks under this Act, and the conditions under which any such certificate may be granted, cancelled or suspended.
171.Weights and measures on board.- The master of a ship shall keep on board proper weights and measures for determining the quantities of the several provision and articles served out and shall allow the same to be used at the time of serving out the provisions and articles in the presence of witnesses whenever any dispute arises about the quantities.
172.Bedding, towels, medicines, medical stores, etc., to be provided and kept on board certain ships.-(1) The owner of every ship of over five hundred tons gross shall supply or cause to be supplied to every seaman for his personal use, bedding, towels, mess utensils and other articles according to such scale as may be prescribed; and different scales may be prescribed in respect of different classes of ships.(2) All foreign-going Indian ships and all home-trade ships of two hundred tons gross or more shall have always on guard a sufficient supply of medicines, medical stores, appliances and first aid equipment suitable for disease and accidents likely to occur on voyages according to such scale as may be prescribed.(3) It shall be the duty of the port health officer or such other person as the Central Government may appoint in this behalf to inspect the medicines, medical stores and appliances with which a ship is required to be provided.