Port Health - infectious diseases
The principal legislation that involves ships and aircraft arriving from outside the UK are the Public Health (Ships) Regulations 1979 (as amended). These Regulations reflect the provisions of International Health Regulations 2005.
Masters of ships arriving in the Lancaster Port Health Authority District must notify the Lancaster Port Health Authority of any suspected infectious disease or death on board the vessel other than by an accident. Masters must also report the presence of animals or captive birds and any illness or death in those animals or birds.
During boarding inspections a valid Declaration of Health must be presented to port staff (if vessel is from a port outside the EU) to show the health of the crew.
Making a report is simple, all a master of a vessel need do is contact the authority NOT more than 12 hours before arriving in port (outer port limit) and NOT less than 4 hours before arrival in port. This can be done in several ways, via radio message to the relevant Port Control, via email, via telephone or by fax. The authority’s contact details can be found on this page.
The authority operates a 24 hour telephone standby system to enable messages to be received from the masters of vessels arriving at Heysham Port or Glasson Dock who are required to notify the presence of illness thought to be of an infectious nature.
Medical staff are on call to visit vessels to enable a diagnosis to be made of the illness and to recommend further action to prevent the spread of the disease.
Masters of vessels and ship's surgeons (where applicable) should complete a Maritime Declaration of Health, which should then be faxed to: 01524 582709 or be handed to a visiting officer from the authority. Declarations must be fully completed whenever there is a suspected or confirmed case or cases of infectious disease on board a ship arriving in port, or whenever there are animals or captive birds on board the vessel and if they have shown any mortality or signs of infectious disease. The forms below should be completed then:
- Lancaster Port Health Authority’s Maritime Declaration of Health (PDF, 233KB)
- Instructions for completing the Maritime Declaration of Health (PDF, 631KB)
Last updated: 28 October 2016