The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Ministry of Labor (Taiwan-OSHA) and the International Association of Labour Inspection (IALI) co-hosted the 2026 IALI and Taiwan-OSHA International Conference & Workshop on Accident Prevention for High-Risk Industries on September 22.

Labor inspection and occupational safety and health (OSH) experts from the United Kingdom, Latvia and Norway shared practical experience in three areas: regulating technologies used for workplace safety, preventing hazards in construction and manufacturing, and addressing workplace mental health through labor inspection.

The speakers were Paul Kloss, head of the Director of Regulation's Office at the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE); Renārs Lūsis, director of the State Labour Inspectorate of the Republic of Latvia; and Pål Hilmar Lund, special adviser at the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority and vice president of IALI. Together with Taiwanese inspectors and OSH professionals, they discussed how regulation, technology and risk management can help identify and control workplace hazards proactively.

Opening the conference, Tzu-Lien Tzou, Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Labor, said that rapid advances in artificial intelligence, green energy and new forms of work, together with climate change, are making workplace risks more complex, and that the approach to safety must therefore shift from investigating accidents to anticipating them. "This conference is about learning from what works in other countries and putting it into practice in Taiwan — in our regulations, our workplaces and our inspections. The goal is simple: fewer workplace accidents," Tzou said.

Yu-Tang Lin, Director-General of Taiwan-OSHA, highlighted the National Action Plan for Workplace Accident Reduction, launched this year, and amendments to the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which took effect on July 1, 2026. Both focus on tackling hazards at the source, managing contractors and using technology. "Labor inspection is shifting from finding violations to identifying high-risk workplaces and intervening early," Lin said.

In recent years, Taiwan-OSHA has expanded its cooperation with IALI and sent staff for training at the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority and HSE's Science and Research Centre.

The afternoon featured three workshops on workplace mental health, construction and high-risk enterprises, co-led by international experts, Taiwanese academics and Taiwan-OSHA officials. Through case studies, scenario simulations and accident-investigation exercises, inspectors practiced hazard identification and accident analysis.

Taiwan-OSHA emphasized that government inspections alone cannot prevent occupational accidents. Companies must build safety and health into everyday operations and decision-making, and frontline workers need the skills to recognize hazards and work safely. Preventing accidents is a shared responsibility of government, employers and workers, and technology can help all three do it better.