What's expected and what you'll be up to

In his/her role as head of public health onboard, he/she will work very closely with the medical team by supporting the Infection Control Officer with implementation, execution and oversight of Communicable Disease Prevention onboard. The Public Health Director will be expected to perform, coordinate and/or oversee the following in each of the above-mentioned areas:

• Assures that the delivery of public health services is evidence-based and/or best practices.
• Ensures company policy meets and/or exceeds regulations and requirements set forth by Public Health Regulatory Agencies world-wide including USPH-VSP, ShipSan, ANVISA, etc.
• Ensures company compliance with relevant public health regulations.
• Manages and implements the Vessel Sanitation Standards onboard with the Infection Control Officer as oversight.
• Represents company in collaborative efforts with public health authorities.
• Ensures that previous observations from internal and external audits and inspection reports are properly corrected.
• Assist ships with tracking and implementation of corrective actions necessitated by items identified through inspections
• Ensures all external inspection report corrective actions are completed in a timely manner and feedback is sent to the relevant Public Health Authority on or before the due date indicated on the report or as per relevant regulation.
• For all internal audits and inspections conducted, a written report must be provided to the relevant department head, outlining observations of concern, trends and repeat violations found during the review.
• Coordinate and implement lessons learned from these reports, establish and communicate training opportunities in the inspected areas
• Send a monthly “Focus Report” to the Sanitation Officer based on lesson learned or significant findings from recent cruise industry published external inspection reports.
• Send a quarterly “Public Health Trends Report” to the onboard SLT detailing the significant findings made in the industry published on the VSP website.
• Liaise with onboard department heads regarding any Environmental Health and Sanitation issues and assists them with preparing for any expected public health inspections.
• The Public Health Director will be available to support the Medical Center staff as an administrator during times of outbreak, pandemic or mass casualty incident.
• Collaborates with the Infection Control Officer to organizes and deliver public health awareness training to shipboard staff (classroom style), ensuring awareness of all OPP protocols, Covid-19 and outbreak prevention practices and routinely communicates program effectiveness, best practices and lessons learned to shore side public health and medical department
• Make recommendations to the Company SLT to improve the onboard health and sanitation program.
• Participates in periodic updates of the QMS, IPM and Water Safety Manuals
• Participates in the development of new health and sanitation related training programs.
• Assists land-based Crew with the review and implementation of new equipment, chemicals, procedures and policies designed to improve overall public health programs onboard.
• Assists the Risk Management team with the development of new regulations and forms designed for inclusion in SQM to ensure consistency.
• Provide support through inspections and audits during the delivery of new vessels, ship spaces and any other task as they relate to Public Health, to ensure public health policies and procedures have been implemented according to regulatory and company policies

Additional Responsibilities:

• Oversee that all Sanitation scheduled/necessary performance evaluations are completed to company standards;
• Periodically review onboard public health knowledge and utilize performance improvement methodology.
• Use a systematic approach to evaluate sanitation budget costs, benefits, and efficacy.
• Oversees and assists the Sanitation Department follows and understands the company’s environmental policies, rules and regulations always.
• Discuss sanitation department costs and control with the Hotel Controller regularly and make sure the sanitation department is operating within budget.
• Support Medical team with training and monitoring compliance with infection prevention procedures.
• Assist the F&B Director with the Safe Return to Port Locker and supplies if directed to do so in an emergency.
• Attend any Sailor functions as required by the Hotel Director and/or SLT.
• Partake in any meetings as required by SLT and/or any Head of Department.
• Periodically meets with onboard Infection Control Officer and Medical Team to discuss observations and identify areas of focus or improvement.
• Attend all safety drills and any other mandatory trainings and training exercises

Pest Control:

• The Public Health Director has direct responsibilities to ensure the Sanitation Officer is managing the IPM Program.
• Must update the IPM Manual Annually and ensure the team are trained in the latest technologies and applications
• Discuss IPM requisitions with the Sanitation Officer and approve necessary supply orders before being placed
• Conduct knowledge assessments with the assigned chemical applicator and certify the relevant crew at the beginning of their contracts.
• Conduct at minimum weekly rounds with the Pest Control team to identify weekly projects or issues that require attention