Transformation of a Ferry in a COVID-19 Ship Hospital: Crew Occupational Safety and Health Issues According to the Experience of Liguria Public Health Port Authority

In March 2020, a ferry (Splendid G.N.V. Company, Italy) moored in the port of Genova (Northwest of Italy) was transformed into a medical care facility for COVID-19. The project intended to help infected patients that required low-intensity care, were discharged from hospitals in the Liguria Region and were not yet able to return home. The aim was to share some of the treatment burden of the completely overcrowded local ashore hospitals and to free up bed spaces for patients in the acute phase of the disease. In this work we highlighted under the health port authority perspective the safety issues that the crew faced resulting from the exceptional and very unusual allocation of ashore medical facilities on a passenger ship.