ChapterⅠ General Provisions
Article 1
The Act is enacted to protect workers’ safety and health and to prevent occupational accidents; if otherwise provided by other applicable act, the provisions of that other act shall prevail.
Article 2
The terms used in the Act are defined as follows:
1.The term “workers” referred to in the Act means laborers, self-employed workers, or other people engaged in work and directed or supervised by the responsible people in workplaces.
2.The term “laborers” referred to in the Act means people employed to work for wages.
3.The term “employers” referred to in the Act means the owners of business entities, or the people in positions of managerial responsibility for such business entities.
4.The term "business entities" referred to in the Act means entities falling within the scope of this Act, which employ laborers to perform work.
5.The terms “occupational accidents” referred to in the Act mean any diseases, injuries, disabilities, or deaths of workers caused by buildings, machinery, equipment, raw materials, materials, chemicals, gases, vapors, dusts, etc., at the place of duty, or as a result of work activities, or due to other occupational causes.
Article 3
(Ⅰ)The term "competent authority" referred to in the Act mean the Ministry of Labor at the central government level, the municipal government at the municipality level, or the county (city) government at the county (city) level.
(Ⅱ)Health matters related to the Act shall be handled by the Central Competent Authority in consultation with the Central Competent Health Authority.
Article 4
The Act applies to all industries. However, due to factors such as the scale, characteristics and risks of the business entity, the Central Competent Authority may designate and announce the applicable provisions of the Act.
Article 5
(Ⅰ)Work assigned to laborers by the employers shall be within a reasonable and feasible scope, with necessary preventative equipment or measures taken to prevent laborers from being involved in occupational accidents.
(Ⅱ)Those involved in the design, manufacture, or importation of items such as machinery, equipment, tools, raw materials, and materials, as well as those engaged in the design or construction of engineering projects shall carry out risk assessments during the design, manufacturing, importation, or construction planning phase, and endeavor to prevent the occurrence of occupational accidents during the usage of such items, or process of engineering or construction.