Several labor organizations yesterday urged the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) and the Bureau of Labor Insurance (BLI) to allow unions to participate in the examination of possible occupational injuries, saying people who work in the field are most familiar with the actual work environment.
"When BLI personnel came over to examine occupational injuries of truck drivers who are in our union, they informed the employers of the supposedly unannounced examinations and asked the employers perfunctory questions, which were totally unrelated to the actual work situations of these workers," said Wang Chiu-yue (王秋月), the head of the Federation of Taiwan Teamsters and Containers Trade Unions (台灣區倉儲運輸工會聯合會).
Wang pointed out a particular case in 2002, when BLI sent personnel to look into an occupational injury case in Keelung, where a truck driver died of cardiac arrest while carrying out his job under extreme work conditions.
"All drivers working for this trucking company work continuously for 16 to 18 hours per day, 10 days in a row, without having to log in their work hours. Frequently, many of these drivers did not get out of their trucks for several days in a row due to their heavy workload. However, while BLI personnel came to examine the case, they only asked employers four questions," Wang said.
The questions were whether the worker in question had been overworked, was in the habit of chewing betel nuts, drinking alcohol, or smoking.
"Of course the employer was going to say that this particular worker, who didn't have the aforementioned unhealthy habits, had never been overworked. Then, the BLI decided that his death was non-work related, and the case was closed," Wang said.
If the BLI, which processes claims for occupational injuries, is not able to determine if an employee's injuries were work-related, it will pass the case on to the CLA's review committee, which will turn to occupational injury specialists for their professional opinions.
This month marks the second year after the Law to Protect Workers Against Occupational Hazards (
"For seven years, the draft of this law -- which TAVOI had written -- just sat in the Legislative Yuan. As soon as some legislators took notice of it and wanted to let it pass into law, the CLA stepped in and came up with its own version of the draft," said Huang Hsiao-ling (黃小陵), TAVOI secretary-general.
"After negotiations in 2001, this law, which combined the good will of both versions, finally cleared the Legislative Yuan and was enacted the following year," Huang said.
In response, BLI stated that when examining a potential work-related case, its personnel must carry out thorough inquiries.
"Normally, in order to examine an occupational injury case, one will understand the situation through asking questions of the worker, his employer and his coworkers. If his coworkers are not available, we will solicit the opinions of other individuals whose job functions are similar to that of the worker in question," stated BLI public relations officer Chang Lu-ping (張履平), who had once been an occupational--injury case examiner.
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