Labor groups and victims of occupational accidents in Taiwan called on the ROC government April 26 to prioritize amendments to related laws for better protection of workers.
According to the Taiwan Association for Victims of Occupational Injuries, over 60,000 people received compensation for work-related accidents in 2011. “The actual number of people injured could be two or three times that figure because many cases were not reported or were not recognized by officials,” said Ho Kuang-wan, a TAVOI spokesman.
In recent years, the deaths of security guards, truck drivers and electronics engineers have been in the news, while nurses and doctors have complained of long working hours due to a shortage of personnel.
Such cases highlight the need to revise laws meant to help protect the safety and health of workers, the association noted.
Ho said one act specifically on occupational accidents was passed in 2002 after seven years of promotion by labor groups and the exposure of many cases of injury and death at work.
But “articles that stipulate the prevention and mandatory reporting of occupational injuries and diseases are not included in the law as it stands,” he added.
Taiwan’s industry has changed so much that laws must be updated to address new dangers, such as diseases caused by chemicals used in the production of electronics, the association said.
As an example, a former worker at an RCA plant in Taiwan said the company treated information on chemicals used in the factory as business secrets that could not be revealed to employees.
More than 1,000 former workers at that facility, closed in 1992, are suffering from cancer and over 200 have died, according to the Self-Help Association of Former RCA Employees.
The TAVOI said laws to protect worker safety should require that all use of chemicals be made transparent. It also called for legal changes to grant labor unions the right to participate in investigations of accidents, hold employers criminally liable for an employee’s death at work, provide lifelong subsides for workers handicapped on the job, and give foreign workers the same protection as domestic ones.
In response, the Council of Labor Affairs said it has stepped up efforts in broadening safeguards for workers.
Revisions to the act stipulating protection against occupational accidents were sent to the Legislative Yuan earlier this month, and amendments to a more general law on occupational safety and health will soon be submitted to the Executive Yuan, it added. (THN)