In recent years, incidents of occupational overwork in Taiwan have drawn tremendous concerns from all sectors. To target this issue, the Ministry of Labor has promoted a number of policies to prevent its occurrences. According to statistical data from the Bureau of Labor Insurance, the Bureau had paid 40 incidents of overwork claims as of August 2014, which was relatively the same for the same period in 2013. In comparison to the previous two years, however, this was an approximate drop of 30% (58 cases in 2010 and 65 cases in 2012), though those in private security industry and transportation industry still ranked highest in overwork incidents. 

    The occurrence of “overwork” (work-related cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases) is not the result of any single one factor, but is related to whether the worker has any history of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and his work environment and workload. To prevent overwork from extensive working hours and excessive workload, the Ministry of Labor adopts a strategy that employs an array of regulations, guidance and assistance, and enforcements to reduce incidents of overwork. 

    Legislatively, the Occupational Safety and Health Act that came into effect on July 3 added an “overwork prevention statute” that clearly regulates employers in assigning shifts, nighttime work, and long hours to workers. To prevent diseases resulting from abnormal workload, employers are to adopt preventive measures that would identify and evaluate high risk groups, arrange for medical consultations and health guidance, adjust or shorten working hours and change job duty, implement health checkups, management and promotion. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has also published a Guideline to Prevent Diseases Resulting from Abnormal Workload to help business entities to comply with the laws and regulations.

    With respect to enforcement, the MOL has formulated a two-year “Project to Monitor Business Entities in Abiding to the Implementation of Related Regulations on Labor Conditions” that subsidizes competent authorities of municipal cities and county governments to recruit 325 labor inspectors within two years (164 inspectors in the second half of 2014 and 325 inspectors by 2015). This new addition of labor inspectors will conduct high-intensity and high-frequency inspections predominately in industries such as private security industry and transportation industry where overwork is likely to occur, and of enterprises that have poor records of abiding to regulations on labor conditions.

    Labor Minister CHEN, Hsiung-Wen indicates that Japan will begin to implement its Act to Accelerate Moves for the Prevention of Karoshi on November 1 in response to the alarming number of karoshi incidents in recent years that have put a toll on the society, the individual and their descendents. The most important purpose for the implementation of this Act is that the Japanese government views karoshi as a severe social problem that obliges the government to research and discover the causes of karoshi, and to promote policies for its prevention. In Taiwan, the number of overwork cases is on a decline over the last two years, indicating that related measures taken by the MOL are effective toward overwork prevention. However, given the globalization of our today’s economy, workers are still faced with long working hours and high workloads that require solutions. The MOL will examine the concrete approaches of Japan’s newly implemented Act and use those as reference to develop feasible and appropriate measures for our society. The Minister further reinstates that, success in overwork prevention requires the concerted efforts of society and all sectors. The Minister urges all employers to attach importance to their social obligations, show concerns for the physical and mental well-being of their workers, and create a working environment that is healthy physically and mentally to manifest business competitiveness.