Draft legislation that would classify high temperatures as hazardous weather, allowing local governments to suspend school and work on extremely hot days, is expected to be announced later this month, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today.
The agency attended a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Transportation Committee today to discuss the draft amendment to the Meteorological Act (氣象法).
Legislators have also proposed a version that classifies high temperatures as hazardous weather.
Photo: Reuters
The Executive Yuan’s version has yet to be proposed, as the CWA needs to submit a final version to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications before it is sent to the Cabinet.
The agency is currently working on another draft, after the ministry sent it back for revisions based on collected feedback.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said if the bill cannot be proposed this legislative session, guidelines must be established for people to follow next summer.
CWA Administrator Lu Kuo-cheng (呂國臣) said that Taiwan’s temperatures continue to rise, with Yushan (玉山) seeing record highs this year and Taipei seeing more than 70 days hotter than 35°C.
Work and school need not be suspended for the full day on extremely hot days, Lu said.
Standards for suspension vary across industries and work environments, as indoor and outdoor workers, as well as farmers and students have different needs, he said.
The agency also suggested that tropical depressions be classified as hazardous weather, as they have caused disasters in recent years, such as severe flooding in southern Taiwan on Aug. 23, 2018.
In addition, legislators during the session suggested that typhoon days be decided uniformly by the CWA, taking the pressure off local governments to make the decision, as it is largely based on CWA data.
Typhoon days used to be determined by the central government, but are now decided by each municipality.
Lu said that typhoon days are not based solely on wind and rainfall forecasts.
Other factors such as living conditions, water, electricity and environment must also be considered, he added.
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