The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the Ministry of Labor revised its “Advocacy of On- Site Health Service at Small and Medium Enterprises Subsidy Program(SMEs Health Service Subsidy Program)” Effective September 1, 2020, business entities with less than 299 employees covered by the Labor Insurance Program are entitled to a subsidy of the service, which was previously applied to those with less than 199 employees protected by labor insurance. Further, the deadline for applying for the annual subsidy will be postponed to October 31.

According to OSHA, business entities of a certain scale should employ or outsource occupational health medical professionals to care for the employees under the OSHA and other applicable legal rules. These medical professionals should work in conjunction with the staff of occupational safety and health, human resources, and related functional departments to perform the duties pertaining to occupational safety and health at the workplace, prevention of occupational diseases, and occupational health management. The “SMEs Health Service Subsidy Program” was established for assisting SMEs to implement occupational health protection and alleviate the financial burden of the enterprises. Effective January 1, 2020, business entities with less than 199 employees were subsidized for employing or outsourcing onsite health service personnel to provide health service for the labor. Considering the impact of COVID-19 on the enterprises and assistance to employers taking appropriate measures for the prevention of the pandemic through professional medical staff, OSHA revised the scope of benefits of the subsidy plan thereby business entities with less than 299 employees are also entitled to the subsidy. The deadline for applying for the subsidy will be postponed from September 30 to October 31. For further information, refer to the Appendix attached.

OSHA reiterated that business entities should properly implement the protection of physical and psychological health and prevention of the pandemic at the workplace to assure the safety and health of the workers while keeping the operation going. SMEs with less than 299 employees are welcome to make use of the subsidy. For application, visit the “SMEs Health Service Subsidy Management System” (website: https://osmp.osha.gov.tw/home/EnterPrise). For any query about the subsidy, contact the coordinator of occupational safety and health service (hotline: 06-2145256, extension 11~16).