The Merchant Shipping (Employment of Young Persons) Regulations 1995

• Citation: S.I. 1995/972
• Sections: 6

Section 1 Citation and commencement

These Regulations may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Employment of Young Persons) Regulations 1995 and shall come into force on 1st May 1995.

Section 2 Interpretation and application

(1) In these Regulations—

“child” means a person who is under school-leaving age for the purposes of section 51 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1970;

“education authority” has the meaning given by section 135(1) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 ;

“local education authority” has the meaning given by section 114(1) of the Education Act 1944 ;

“training ship” means a ship operated for the purpose of educating or training children;

“United Kingdom ship” means a ship which—

is registered in the United Kingdom; or

is not registered under the law of any country but is wholly owned by persons each of whom is—

a British citizen, a British Dependent Territories citizen or a British Overseas citizen, or

a body corporate which is established under the law of a part of the United Kingdom and has its principal place of business in the United Kingdom;

“young person” means a person under the age of eighteen.

Section 3 Children

Without prejudice to any restrictions in the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 , and subject to regulations 4 and 6 below, a child who has attained the age of 14 may be employed in a training ship on a course recognised by a local education authority (or in Scotland, by an education authority, or in Northern Ireland by the Department of Education).

Section 4 Young persons' medical certificates

(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3) below, a young person shall not be employed in any capacity in a ship unless there has been delivered to the master of the ship a certificate granted by a duly qualified medical practitioner certifying that the young person is fit to be employed in that capacity.

In paragraph, “duly qualified medical practitioner” means a person who is a fully registered person within the meaning of section 55 of the Medical Act 1983 .

(2) Paragraph (1) above shall not apply in the case of employment in a ship in which only members of the same family are employed.

(3) A superintendent or consular officer may on the ground of urgency authorise a young person who is not a child to be employed in a ship notwithstanding that no such certificate has been delivered to the master of the ship; but the young person shall not be employed in reliance on any such authorisation beyond the first port at which the ship calls after he has embarked thereon.

(4) A certificate shall be effective for the purposes of this regulation for a period of twelve months from the date on which it is granted and no longer, but if the period of twelve months expires during a voyage in which the young person is employed in the ship, the certificate shall remain effective until the end of the voyage.

Section 5 Record of young persons

(1) There shall be included in every crew agreement a list of the young persons who are employed in the ship, together with particulars of their dates of birth.

(2) There shall be included in every crew agreement a short summary of the provisions of these Regulations.

(3) In the case of a ship in which there is no crew agreement, the master of the ship shall, if young persons are employed in the ship, keep a register of those persons with particulars of their dates of birth and of the dates on which they became employed in the ship.

Section 6 Trimmers and stokers

No young person shall be employed as a trimmer or stoker in any ship.