Taiwan steps up monitoring of repeat workplace accident sites

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan will place factories and construction projects with repeated serious workplace accidents under six months of heightened oversight, including public listing and stepped-up inspections.

A worksite can be flagged if it experiences two or more major occupational accidents within three years, or if a fire or explosion leaves at least three people dead or five injured, the Ministry of Labor said. Sites can also be listed after racking up three or more shutdown orders or fines for safety violations within a year.

Once monitored, companies must submit a safety and health improvement plan within 14 days and provide monthly updates after a third-party audit of implementation. Labor inspectors will carry out surprise checks, and authorities can widen work stoppages and increase penalties if fixes are not carried out.

Legal representatives or senior managers, and in some cases parent companies or project owners, will be required to attend review meetings in person.

Officials said the framework borrows from enforcement approaches used in the US and Singapore and is intended to force chronic offenders to put real resources into risk control. Sites can be removed from the list only after inspectors confirm hazards have been addressed and a review meeting signs off.