The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) plans to invest NT$500 million (US$16.78 million) over the next four years to improve the working conditions of sanitation employees, citing a high number of work-related accidents.
Their work conditions are complicated, which increases the risk of accidents, it said on Sunday.
It used to report accidents involving sanitation workers based on the number of accidents per county and municipality, but the reporting standards differed nationwide, it said.
An analysis of nationwide accident statistics over the past five years showed that sanitation workers had nearly as many accidents as all other occupations combined, the agency said.
Traffic accidents — often caused by the workers’ vehicles being struck by other vehicles — accounted for 30 percent of the total, it said, adding that most of the accidents occurred late at night or early in the morning.
The agency aims to improve work-safety education and would oversee the implementation of increased safety training for workers by local governments, it said.
The Executive Yuan on Thursday last week established a task force to promote sanitation worker safety and achieve a consensus among local governments and unions on safe practices and training that conform with laws and established standards.
The EPA said it has helped replace aging garbage trucks with newer, environmentally friendly models and to provide rest facilities for workers, adding that it would continue to invest funds to make sanitation work safer.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
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