Taiwan has approved the amendment of the Labour Safety and Health Act to expand benefits to cover some 10.6 million people from 6.7 million people previously, according to Office of Labour Affairs in Taiwan. In the original version of the act, the act protected the “labour” from occupational accidents and implemented regulations to protect their safety and health. The term “labour” is defined as a person employed to undertake work in exchange for wages.
Taiwan has approved the amendment of the Labour Safety and Health Act to expand benefits to cover some 10.6 million people from 6.7 million people previously, according to Office of Labour Affairs in Taiwan. In the original version of the act, the act protected the “labour” from occupational accidents and implemented regulations to protect their safety and health. The term “labour” is defined as a person employed to undertake work in exchange for wages. The amendments to the act would provide extended protection for such as the self-employed, taxi-driver, night market vendors, dispatch workers, volunteer workers, and interns. Some lawmakers commented that the amendments are the biggest changes the act has seen in 20 years, citing the shift in Taiwan’s industry structure, and increasing mental illness cases due to over-pressure at work and over-fatigue. Lawmakers also said that the adjustments to the act would encourage healthier ideas about the employment environment, and force more responsibility on the employers over their employees. With the increase of different sectors that fall under the scope of the act, lawmakers noted that the change would expand protection to almost any working person except civil servants. For example, volunteers who are technically “unemployed” will be subject to the revised law in the future, which means that the owners of organizations are entitled to oversee volunteers. In addition to the amendments of the act, owners would need to contemplate the possible occupation accidents a worker might encounter and map out prevention measures. For example, owners of a bar would need to focus attention on gas-leak or stage equipment accident prevention. As for the additional proposal to include an over-fatigue prevention clause, government officials could not reach a consensus with lawmakers, therefore the topic was delayed. The Council of Labor Affairs stated that it would be a difficult task to enforce the proposed clause. 
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