Surveys, audits and PSCLesson 5 of 7
MLC 2006 inspection and the ship's medical care
You will know how the maritime labour certificate is inspected and renewed, what an inspector checks in the medical locker, and which amendments apply now and from 2027.
16 minutes · For signed-up learners, free · Rules checked 20 October 2026
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Seafarers’ working and living conditions are a major source of port State control findings. In the Paris MoU region in 2025, health protection, medical care, welfare and social security under Title 4 of the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) made up 10.0% of all deficiencies, named alongside fire safety (16.8%) and structural and electrical items (11.6%) as recurring areas of concern in a summary of the Paris MoU annual report. In the Tokyo MOU region the same category produced 5,133 deficiencies in a single year.
The medicine chest is where many of those findings start. Expired drugs, missing items from the national list, no record that anyone has checked it in the last year, nobody on board with the right medical training. These are simple to put right before an inspector arrives, and they matter: when a seafarer is injured three days from port, the chest, the guide and the trained officer are all the medical care there is.
Continue this lesson free
The rest of this lesson, the interactive MLC walk-round with the flag inspector and the quiz are open to signed-up learners. It's free, takes a minute, and opens every lesson in all 14 courses.
In this lesson
- Try it: MLC walk-round with the flag inspector
- In plain words
- In detail
- What the rules say
- Flag and class notes
- Key numbers
- What inspectors find
- Questions people ask
- Quiz: 6 questions
Sources
- 1 International Labour Organization, Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, as amended (consolidated text including the amendments of 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2022), Regulation 4.1, Standard A4.1, Guideline B4.1.1, Regulation 5.1.3, Standard A5.1.3, Standard A5.2.1 and Appendix A5-I. https://www.ilo.org/sites/default/files/2024-10/NORMES_MLC%20Amendments-EN_2022_Web_1.pdf
- 2 International Labour Conference, Amendments of 2022 to the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, as amended, approved 6 June 2022 (authentic text), amendments to Standards A3.2, A4.1 and A4.3 and Guideline B4.1.3. https://maritime.public.lu/dam-assets/mlc/amendements-2022-wcms-848493.pdf
- 3 International Labour Organization, Text and preparatory reports of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (list of amendments and entry-into-force dates). https://www.ilo.org/international-labour-standards/maritime-labour-convention-2006-0/text-and-preparatory-reports-maritime-labour-convention-2006
- 4 West of England P&I, Amendments to the Maritime Labour Convention adopted (June 2025), list of regulations amended in 2025. https://www.westpandi.com/News-and-Resources/News/June-2025/Amendments-to-the-Maritime-Labour-Convention-Adopt/
- 5 World Health Organization, International Medical Guide for Ships, 3rd edition (WHO, 2007, ISBN 978 92 4 154720 8), with the Quantification Addendum (WHO publication, no free official text).
- 6 IIMS, Rising detention rates and recurring areas of concern in Paris MoU Annual Report 2025 (July 2026). https://www.iims.org.uk/rising-detention-rates-and-recurring-areas-of-concern-in-paris-mou-annual-report-2025/
- 7 Tokyo MOU, Annual Report on Port State Control in the Asia-Pacific Region 2025, table 7 (deficiencies by category). https://www.tokyo-mou.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/ANN25.pdf
- 8 Tokyo MOU, CIC results (list of concentrated inspection campaigns, including Crew Wages and Seafarer Employment Agreement (MLC, 2006), 2024). https://www.tokyo-mou.org/publications/cic-results
Free awareness training. Al Safwan Marine is not an approved training provider, so no certificate is given, and these courses are not a qualification. They don't replace STCW training, manufacturer training or the certification technicians need for this work. The manufacturer's manual and your flag's rules always come first.
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