• Last updated:2021-10-18

The Ministry of Labor (MOL) announced the top ten dangerous occupations in the construction industry; the number one ranking was roofers. The main causes for the fatal injuries of roofers were roof collapse from stepping through the roof and fall from the roof edge. Over the last 3 years (2010~2012), the average fatal work injuries for roofers was 16.3 per year and the rate of fatal work injuries was 20.91 per thousand workers.

“Structural iron and steel workers” ranked the second. The main causes for the fatal injuries were due to falls when assembling steel structures and steel plates. This group averaged 11.3 fatal work injuries per year, with fatality rate of 2.17 per thousand workers. “Construction cleaners” ranked the third. The main causes for the fatal injuries were falls from elevator opening, pipeline shaft, and floor edge. This group averaged 10.3 fatalities per year, with fatality rate of 1.34 per thousand workers. The fourth to tenth places on the ranking list were "welders and cutters", "Other construction structure workers(including scaffolding workers)", "formwork workers", "bulldozers, cranes and other material moving equipment operators", "painters and paint spraying machine operators", "reinforcing iron and rebar workers", "air-conditioning and refrigeration mechanics." (See annex: Total fatal occupational injuries and rate of fatal occupational injuries by top ten dangerous occupations in construction industry.)

Based on the analysis of total number of fatal work injuries over the last 3 years, roofers had the highest count, 49, followed by 46 fatalities to formwork workers, 39 fatalities to bulldozers, cranes and other material moving equipment operators, 34 fatalities to structural iron and steel workers, and 31 fatalities to construction cleaners.

MOL stated that the incidents accounted for the top ten dangerous occupations in the construction industry mainly occurred in small and medium sized construction sites, and fall was the major type of the incidents. Most of these construction sites lacked of occupational safety and health budget and safety management competency. And, most labors were either employed with no definite employer or dispatching workers (such as the roofers and cleaners), with insufficient safety and health training and hazard identification ability. Besides, due to the large quantity of small construction sites with usually short period of construction time, it is difficult to reduce incident rate through on-site inspection.

In addition to inspections, MOL will also adopt advocacy, counseling and other measures to prevent occupational accidents as follows:

1. Roofing work in the constructing plant: using the construction list provided by Construction and Planning Agency to find the new constructions with roofing works. Local labor inspection agency will conduct inspections on roofing works during the construction period.

2. Roof repairing work: MOL will continue to promote “Civilian Work Safety Awareness Enhancement Program”. Counselors will visit small and medium sized construction sites on safety and health issues. If there is any ongoing roofing work which may endanger the workers found during the visits, counselors will report it to local labor inspection agency to carry on an inspection.

3. Strengthen the implementation of “Fall hazard prevention advocacy and counseling program”: local labor inspection agencies will continue to initiate fall hazard prevention advocacy and fall protection equipment demonstration seminars. It will equip enterprises with work at height with the ability of recognizing fall hazards and fall prevention knowledge so that they can implement self management.

4. Small and medium sized constructions: local labor inspection agencies will conduct inspections and counseling. For any violation of laws, inspectors will not only give an improvement notice but also reinforce counseling. By doing this, it will prepare these enterprises with hazard recognition ability and construction safety and health knowledge for the purpose of reducing occupational accidents.

5. Enhance self-protection competence for self-employed persons: MOL will invite various construction professional labor unions to find workers with no definite employer or self-employed and provide them with occupational safety and health education and training to enhance their hazard recognition ability.

• Source:Department of General Planning
• Publication Date:2013-12-06
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