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.
A Keelung high school on Saturday night apologized for using a picture containing a Chinese flag on the cover of the senior yearbook, adding that it has recalled the books and pledged to provide students new ones before graduation on Thursday. Of 309 Affiliated Keelung Maritime Senior High School of National Taiwan Ocean University graduates, 248 had purchased the yearbook. Some students said that the printer committed an outrageous error in including the picture, while others said that nobody would notice such a small flag on the cover. Other students said that they cared more about the photographs of classmates and what was
GOING INTERNATIONAL: Rakuten Girls squad leader Ula Shen said she was surprised that baseball fans outside of Taiwan not only knew of them, but also knew their names Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Oakland Athletics on Saturday hosted its first Taiwanese Heritage Day event at the Oakland Coliseum with a performance by Taiwanese cheerleading squad the Rakuten Girls and a video message from Vice President William Lai (賴清德). The Rakuten Girls, who are the cheerleaders for the CPBL’s Rakuten Monkeys, performed in front of a crowd of more than 2,000 people, followed by a prerecorded address by Lai about Taiwan’s baseball culture and democratic spirit. Taiwanese pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸), who was signed by the Athletics earlier this year, was also present. Mizuki Lin (林襄), considered a “baseball cheerleading goddess” by Taiwanese
A 14-legged giant isopod is the highlight of a new dish at a ramen restaurant in Taipei and it has people lining up — both for pictures and for a bite from this bowl of noodles. Since “The Ramen Boy” launched the limited-edition noodle bowl on Monday last week, declaring in a social media post that it had “finally got this dream ingredient,” more than 100 people have joined a waiting list to dine at the restaurant. “It is so attractive because of its appearance — it looks very cute,” said the 37-year-old owner of the restaurant, who wanted to be
EVA Airways was ranked the eighth-best airline in the world for this year, the only Taiwanese carrier to make it into the top 25 Airline Excellence Awards this year, aviation reviews Web site AirlineRatings.com said on Wednesday. AirlineRatings.com has a seven-star rating system to evaluate more than 360 airlines around the world every year, EVA Airways said in a statement on Thursday. “We are delighted that efforts by the entire EVA staff have been recognized by Airline Ratings,” EVA Airways president Clay Sun (孫嘉明) said in the release. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company identified and adopted services and procedures that enhance and
RSS