Yes. I would recommend to use
<pd4ml:page.header> for that:
<body>
<pd4ml:page.header>
<table>
<tr class="band>
<td> </td>
</tr>
</table>
</pd4ml:page.header>
<pd4ml:header>, you mentioned, is a custom JSP tag, mapped to PD4ML API - so it works only in JSP container. More info about PD4ML headers/footers:
html-pdf-faq-f1/pdf-page-headers-footers-definition-options-t41.html