Several trade unions have pledged to lobby for better legal accountability for employers regarding work-related injuries.
New legislation is required to impose monetary damages on companies when their negligence leads to major workplace accidents, the Taiwan Association for Victims of Occupational Injuries said at a news conference on Thursday.
The amount imposed should be relative to company revenue, and executives should be subject to criminal sanction if injuries experienced by workers can be attributed to policies or orders, it said.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法) and other laws have been used to penalize supervisors of injured workers, but generally those employees have no say in the policies that are often cause the injuries, association executive officer Liu Nien-yun (劉念雲) said.
“Bosses often escape responsibility,” she said in her call for legal reform.
Liu said that the lobbying effort was initiated by the association and has received backing from the Taiwan Railway Union and Taiwan International Workers Association, among others. Representatives of the groups attended the news conference to express their support.
The association plans to consult with trade unions across the country for their input into legal proposals, although it does not have a deadline.
It hopes the government takes the proposals seriously and incorporate them into law, Liu said.
The unions said that they doubt a new law set to take effect tomorrow would offer adequate protection to injured workers or better prevent workplace accidents.
The Labor Occupational Hazard Insurance and Protection Act (勞工職業災害保險及保護法) is to replace the Act for Protecting Workers from Occupational Accidents (職災勞工保護法) and other occupational insurance regulations.
The government has said the new law compels most companies, regardless of size, to hold insurance against liability for employee injury.
However, the groups said that the required insurance is minimal, even for those with poor records of work-related injuries.
Being able to inexpensively transfer liability for workplace incidents to the insurer — the Bureau of Labor Insurance — companies would have no incentive to prioritize employee health and safety, the association said.
SHORT-TERM OUTLOOK: The Chinese military would most likely focus on rebuilding its organization and leadership in the next few years, experts said Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) military purge has reduced the risks of a planned war against Taiwan, yet increased the danger of a conflict sparked by a miscalculation or accident, Taiwanese experts said yesterday. They made the comments at a seminar on the Fifth Plenary Session of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 20th Central Committee held by the research group Secure Taiwan Associate Corp (STA) in Taipei. The wholesale sacking of Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officers and managers of the aerospace and defense industry is sure to set back Xi’s timetable to prepare the PLA to launch an invasion of Taiwan
BATTLE-TESTED: Czech companies’ drones, software and navigation systems have been tested in the Ukraine war, while other countries’ are lab-tested, a Czech ex-official said Czech manufacturers are interested in setting up drone assembly lines in Taiwan, former Czech Chamber of Deputies president Marketa Pekarova Adamova told a forum in Taipei yesterday. Adamova made the comments at the inauguration of the Global UAV Academy, an organization dedicated to international cooperation in drone supply chains, technological certification and pilot training. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology said the Czech Republic is the largest importer of Taiwanese drones and uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) components. Adamova, who transitioned to the defense industry after retiring from politics, said the Roman adage “si vis pacem, para bellum” — “If you
WORRIES PILE UP: The planned extension would generate nearly 10 million cubic meters of excavated soil, the disposal of which has not been explained, a former EPA official said Yilan County residents, backed by civic groups, on Wednesday filed an administrative lawsuit to overturn the environmental impact assessment (EIA) approval for the Yilan-bound high-speed rail (HSR) extension. They filed the lawsuit after the Executive Yuan on Sept. 11 rejected an administrative appeal. Former Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) deputy minister and lawyer Thomas Chan (詹順貴) said the project’s EIA review was one of the hastiest he had ever seen during his 30-year career in environmental law. Construction of the line would generate nearly 10 million cubic meters of excavated earth and rock, the disposal of which has not yet been explained to the
STAY VIGILANT: An aircraft carrier and battle group were located to the east of the Philippines, while other ships were identified off the east and southeast coast of Taiwan China has more than 50 naval and other official vessels operating in a wide swath of sea stretching from southern Japan down to Taiwan and off the Philippines, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Wednesday, calling the threat level “obvious.” Taiwan is stepping up efforts to issue details and maps depicting locations where Chinese warships and coast guard vessels operate. “We are staying vigilant about their activities,” Wu said. “The simultaneous threat to Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines is obvious.” The remarks accompanied a map he posted on X showing the locations of 53 ships, 34 of them navy warships,
RSS