Chapter III Safety and Health Management
Article 23
Employers shall formulate a safety and health management plan based on the scale and characteristics of their business entities, and shall also establish safety and health organizations and personnel to implement safety and health management and self-inspections.
Where the scale of business entities in the preceding paragraph reaches or exceeds a certain level or have workplaces as stipulated in Article 15 Paragraph 1, the business entities shall establish an occupational safety and health management system.
The central competent authority may conduct on-site visits and inspections of the occupational safety and health management system stipulated in the preceding paragraph, and may publicly commemorate those with sound management performances once they are recognized.
Regulations regarding the scale and characteristics of business entities, safety and health organizations, personnel, management, self-inspections, and the establishment, performance recognition, and commendation of occupational safety and health management systems in the preceding three paragraphs and other binding matters to be complied with are stipulated by the central competent authority.
Article 24
For positions requiring the operations of machinery or equipment designated as dangerous by the central competent authority, the employers shall hire personnel who have undergone approved training by the central competent authority or are skill-certified.
Article 25
When business entities recruit contractors for projects, their contractors assume the responsibilities of the employers stipulated in this Act for the portion contracted; the original business entities shall assume joint liabilities with the contractors for occupational accident compensation. The above also applies to subcontractors.
When the original business entities violate this Act or related safety and health regulations, resulting in occupational accidents suffered by laborers employed by the contractors, they assume joint liabilities with the contractors for indemnity. The above also applies to subcontractors.
Article 26
Prior to contracting its operations in whole or in part, business entities shall inform the contractors of the work environment, hazardous elements, and measures required by this Act and related safety and health regulations.
Prior to subcontracting all or part of the work contracted, contractors shall also inform the subcontractors in accordance with the preceding paragraph.
Article 27
When business entities, contractors and subcontractors individually hire laborers to work together, the original business entities shall institute the following necessary measures to prevent occupational accidents:
1. Establish a consultative organization, and appoint a person responsible for supervision and coordination of the workplace;
2. Regulate and integrate work;
3. Conduct inspections of the workplaces;
4. Direct and assist in safety and health education related to the contracted work;
5. Other measures necessary to prevent occupational accidents.
If the business entities contract two or more contractors for joint operation, but the business entities themselves do not participate in such work, one of the contractors shall be designated to assume the business entities’ responsibilities set forth in the preceding paragraph.
Article 28
If two or more business entities contribute fund jointly for a contracted operation, they shall select one person to act as the representative. Said representative is deemed the employers of such operation, and is liable for the prevention of occupational accidents as stipulated for employers’ under this Act.
Article 29
Employers shall not employ persons under the age of 18 to perform any of the following potentially dangerous or harmful work:
1. Work in tunnels;
2. Work involving the handling of explosives or flammable substances;
3. Work at sites where lead, mercury, chromium, arsenic, yellow phosphorus, chlorine, hydrogen cyanide, aniline, or other harmful substances are spread;
4. Work at sites where harmful level of radiation is present;
5. Work at sites where harmful level of dust is present;
6. Work involving the cleaning, lubrication, inspection, repair, or the installation or removal of belts or chains on moving machinery or the dangerous parts of power transmission apparatus.
7. Work involving the connecting of electrical wires carrying over 220 volts of electricity;
8. Work involving the handling of smelted minerals or slag;
9. Work involving the ignition or operation of a boiler;
10. Work involving the operation of a rock drill or other machinery with excessive vibration;
11. Work involving the handling of objects above a specific weight;
12. Work involving the operation of a crane or derrick crane;
13. Work involving the operation of a powered winch, powered carrier, or cableway;
14. Work involving the operation of rolling and grinding mills for rubber compounds or synthetic resins;
15. Other work determined to be of a potentially dangerous or hazardous nature by the central competent authority.
The standards for defining the potentially dangerous or harmful work set forth in the preceding paragraph shall be prescribed by the central competent authority.
In the event that a person under the age of 18 engaged in work other than those set forth in Paragraph 1 is found unsuitable for his or her original work as a result of a physician’s health assessments stipulated in Article 20 or 22, the employer shall refer to the physician’s recommendations to change job site, reassign work, or shorten his or her working hours, and adopt health management measures.
Article 30
Employers shall not employ a pregnant female laborer to perform any of the following potentially dangerous or harmful work:
1. Work in tunnels;
2. Work at a site where lead and its compounds are spread;
3. Work under abnormal air pressure conditions;
4. Work involving the handling of or exposure to Toxoplasma gondii, rubella, or other microorganisms or viruses which potentially affect the health of the fetus;
5. Work involving the handling of or exposure to carbon disulfide, trichloroethylene, ethylene oxide, acrylamide, ethylenimine, arsenic and its compounds, mercury and its inorganic compounds, and other chemicals designated as hazardous by the central competent authority;
6. Work involving the operation of a rock drill or other machinery with excessive vibration;
7. Work involving the handling of objects above a specific weight;
8. Work at a site where harmful level of radiation is present;
9. Work involving the handling of smelted minerals or slag;
10. Work involving the operation of a crane or derrick crane;
11. Work involving the operation of a powered winch, powered carrier, or cableway;
12. Work involving the operation of rolling and grinding mills for rubber compounds or synthetic resins;
13. Work involving the handling of or exposure to disease or lethal microorganisms designated potentially infectious by the central competent authority;
14. Other work determined to be of a potentially dangerous or harmful nature by the central competent authority.
Employers shall not employ female laborers who are still within their first postpartum year to perform any of the following potentially dangerous or hazardous work:
1. Work in tunnels;
2. Work at sites where lead and its compounds are spread;
3. Work involving the operation of a rock drill or other machinery involving excessive vibration;
4. Work involving the handling of objects above a specific weight;
5. Other work determined to be of a potentially dangerous or hazardous nature by the central competent authority.
This limitation shall not apply to the work set forth in subparagraphs 5 to 14 of Paragraph 1 and subparagraphs 3 to 5 of the preceding paragraph where the employers implement maternal health protection measures pursuant to Article 31 and the person involved provides written consent.
The evaluative standards for the potentially dangerous or harmful work set forth in Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be determined by the central competent authority.
Where the employers are not informed by the person involved of the pregnancy or childbirth and breach the regulations stipulated in Paragraph 1 or 2, the employers shall be exempt from penalty; however, this exemption shall not apply if employers are aware or could have known of the fact.
Article 31
Employers shall institute hazard assessments, controls, and hierarchy management measures for work which is potentially hazardous to maternal health in industries designated by the central competent authority; for female laborers who are still within their first postpartum year, work adjustment or reassignment or other protective measures shall be adopted in accordance with the physician’s suitability assessment recommendations, and records of these measures should be kept.
In the event that the laborers in the preceding paragraph experience health abnormalities or adverse reactions due to changes in working conditions or operating processes during the period of protection, where a physician’s assessment confirms that the laborers are unsuitable for her original work, the employers shall rearrange the matter in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.
Regulations regarding the designation of industries, types of work considered potentially hazardous to maternal health, hazard assessment procedures and controls, hierarchy management methods, suitability assessment principles, work adjustment or reassignment, physician qualifications and report formats, and records keeping in Paragraph 1 and other binding matters to be complied with shall be stipulated by the central competent authority.
Where the employers are not informed by the person involved of the pregnancy or childbirth and breach the regulations stipulated in Paragraph 1 or 2, the employers shall be exempt from penalty; however, this exemption shall not apply if employers are aware or could have known of the fact.
Article 32
Employers shall provide laborers with all necessary safety and health education and training to perform duties and prevent accidents.
Regulations governing matters for necessary education and training and the qualifications and management of training entities set forth in the preceding paragraph and other binding matters shall be stipulated by the central competent authority.
Laborers are obligated to participate in safety and health education and training in Paragraph 1.
Article 33
Employers shall be responsible for disseminating the content of this Act and related safety and health regulations to all laborers.
Article 34
Employers shall prepare, in consultation with labor representatives, appropriate safety and health work rules which suit their needs. These rules shall be posted and implemented after a copy has been submitted to a labor inspection agency for reference.
Laborers shall conscientiously abide by the rules in the preceding paragraph.