• Last updated:2021-10-18

    The draft amendment to the Labor Safety and Health Act formulated by the CLA was approved in the Executive Yuan meeting on Nov 15, 2012 and introduced to the Legislative Yuan for deliberation on Nov 22, 2012. The draft amendment renamed as “Occupational Safety and Health Act” and it is set forth therein that the act applies to all occupations, expanding coverage from 6.7 million to 10.67 million people to protect the safety and health of all workers.

    In addition to extending the application scope of the act, this amendment is also designed to improve the occupational safety and health protection management system in the aspects of machinery, equipment,chemicals, occupational disease prevention system, maternity protection for female workers, safety assessment, and supervision mechanisms in process safety management of high-risk enterprises. The key revisions are as follows:

1. The act is renamed as “Occupational Safety and Health Act” and its coverage is expanded to protect the safety and health of all workers.

2. To establish the management mechanisms for the sources of machinery, equipment, and chemicals. It is prescribed that in order to reduce potential hazards, manufacturers, importers, suppliers, or employers that fail to comply with the corresponding safety standards may not produce; import;, supply or use machinery, equipment, and chemicals.

3. To improve the occupational disease prevention system to protect the mental and physical health of workers:

(1) To prevent workers from hazards resulting from overworking, stress, and musculoskeletal problems as well as to strengthen the protection of workers’ physical and mental health, employers are required to plan and adopt necessary measures.

(2) Require employers of harmful work operations to implement work environment monitoring measurements.

(3) To enhance health management, employers are required to adopt health management measures according to the rating of physical examination result. Enterprises with a certain scale should hire or commission occupational medical personnel for health management or prevention of occupational diseases.

4. To ensure maternity protection and equality in employment, employers are required to establish measures for hazard assessment, hazard control, and control banding management of work likely to endanger maternity health, and also conduct assessments, task adjustment, or job change for female workers who are pregnant or gave birth within less than one year.

5. To reinforce process safety management and supervision mechanisms in the manufacturing processes of high-risk enterprises and to increase of penalties on violations. For the petrochemical industry where operations involve high risks, such businesses are required to conduct process safety assessment on a regular basis and report the results to the labor inspection agencies for more stringent supervisions. Penalties on violations are increased in accordance with the existing conditions. It is added that the name of the person in charge of a business entity in violation of related regulations will be publicly announced, so that the public will be able to supervise and pressure the business entity to make improvements.

    Since the promulgation of Labor Safety and Health Act on Apr 16, 1974 and its amendment in May 1991 no major amendment has been made in the past 21 years. Yet, the industrial structure and social changes in recent years have led to new risks that workers may be exposed to. As a result, management of occupational safety and health is confronted with new challenges. After assessing the actual needs in the domestic working environment and the trends in the development of occupational safety and health regulations internationally, the CLA comprehensively reviewed the practical aspect in the implmentation of the act and the problems encountered and provided the draft amendment. is the amendment is currently being deliberated by the Legislative Yuan.

• Source:Department of General Planning
• Publication Date:2013-03-22
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