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.
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