Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday defended the city’s online database of fatal accidents at major construction sites amid concerns about the impact such information might have on the sales of buildings, insisting that the database was meant to promote a safer work environment for workers.
The “Occupational Hazard Map” launched by Taipei City’s Department of Labor in January lists construction sites at which accidents occurred that resulted in at least one death or three injuries of on-site workers.
An updated version of the online map released last week further included previous records of deadly occupational accidents at all construction sites.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Chang Chin-oh (張金鶚) said the latest version of the map can serve as a reference for homebuyers to identify whether a property is “haunted” before purchasing it.
Hau yesterday said the online database was aimed at pushing for safer work environments at construction sites, and the city will continue its efforts to release related information to provide transparent information for the public.
“Whether occupational injuries or deaths on the construction sites make the buildings or apartments built on the site ‘haunted houses’ is a decision for consumers to make,” he said yesterday when attending a liver disease prevention activity in Taipei.
The city’s occupational incidents dropped 50 percent from last year since the online database was launched, according to the department.
Department commissioner Chen Yeh-hsin (陳業鑫) said the online database put pressure on construction firms and employers to make more effort to ensure the safety of construction sites and protect workers’ rights.
There have been three cases of occupational deaths at new construction sites since January, the database showed.
While the “Occupational Hazard Map” database offers information on construction sites with bad records, the other database — “Quality Construction Projects” — lists construction projects with no fatal accidents or records of construction suspensions due to safety concerns.
A total of 52 quality construction projects have been listed in the database since January.
The two databases can be found on the department’s Web site at www.doli.taipei.gov.tw.
Two people were killed and another nine injured yesterday after being stung by hornets while hiking in New Taipei City’s Rueifang District (瑞芳), with officials warning against wearing perfume or straying from trails during the autumn to avoid the potentially deadly creatures. Seven of the hikers only sustained minor injuries after being stung along the Bafenliao Hiking Trail (八分寮) and made their way down the mountain with a guide, the New Taipei City Fire Department said. Four of them — all male — sustained more serious injuries and were assisted when leaving the mountain, the department said. Two of them, a man surnamed
‘ABNORMITY’: News of the military exercises on the coast of the Chinese province facing Taiwan were made public by the Ministry of National Defense on Thursday Taiwan’s military yesterday said it has detected the Chinese military initiating a round of exercises at a bay area in coastal Fujian Province, which faces Taiwan, since early yesterday morning and it has been closely monitoring the drills. The exercises being conducted at Fujian’s Dacheng Bay featured an undisclosed number of People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) warplanes, warships and ground troops, the Ministry of National Defense said in a press statement. The ministry did not disclose what kind of military exercises are being conducted there and for how long they would be happening, but it did say that it has been closely watching
China’s Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong has asked foreign consulates in Hong Kong to submit details of their local staff, which is more proof that the “one country, two systems” model no longer exists, a Taiwanese academic said. The office sent letters dated Monday last week to consulates in the territory, giving them one month to submit the information it requires. The move followed Beijing’s attempt to obtain floor plans for all properties used by foreign missions in Hong Kong last year, which raised concerns among diplomats that the information could be used for
Recent movements by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have been “highly unusual,” but the military maintains a grasp of the situation, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said on Friday, after the military for the first time said it was monitoring troop movements in China’s Dacheng Bay (大埕灣). The minister gave the remarks to reporters before appearing at the legislature on the first day of its new session. The Ministry of National Defense on Thursday evening released an air force surveillance photograph of a PLA Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, and said it was monitoring the PLA Rocket Force and ground