In response to the COVID-19 epidemic in Taiwan, the Ministry of Labor (MOL) has announced the "Reference Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health for Work From Home" to provide references to business entities and workers in implementing work from home arrangements, thus protecting the occupational safety and health of workers working from home.
According to the MOL, when the nationwide epidemic alert was raised to Level 3 in May, business entities across the country complied with " Guidelines for Enterprise Planning of Business Continuity in Response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)" formulated by the Central Epidemic Command Center, and implemented preventive measures such as diverting workplaces to different locations and adjusting worker attendance or business trip arrangements to avoid cross-transmission between employees. In considering the importance of occupational safety and health of workers in new work patterns such as home offices, the MOL has made reference to relevant domestic and foreign regulations in formulating the "Reference Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health for Work From Home", employers should follow the guidelines to identify and assess the potential safety and health hazards that may be encountered by workers in their working-from-home environments and in performing their duties. According to the guidelines, employers should deploy necessary preventive equipment or measures as far as reasonably practicable based on the evaluation results (key content attached).
The MOL also pointed out that business entities and workers can refer to the checklist of occupational safety and health management precautions included in the Guidelines for a quick and easy check and confirmation. Workers should also not overlook the musculoskeletal health hazards that can easily occur due to improper configuration of office facilities (such as tables, chairs or computers), poor posture, or long working hours, etc. In addition, with the continued impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the development of new work patterns such as platform economy and work-from-home has accelerated, and may become the “new normal” work pattern in some industries in the future. For long-term remote workers, the impact of working alone, being alienated from peers, or working long hours may lead to a lack of balance with life and cause mental health hazards, which is something remote workers to pay special attention to.
The MOL calls on business entities that although the domestic epidemic alert has been downgraded to Level 2 since July 27 this year, and epidemic prevention measures can be conditionally relaxed, but epidemic prevention vigilance should not be relaxed. Whether working at business location or from home, epidemic prevention measures should be strictly followed. The MOL has compiled relevant guidelines and information on the practical planning and implementation of workplace epidemic prevention measures based on both domestic and international examples. Business owners and workers can search for relevant information on the dedicated epidemic prevention area on the official OSHA site (https://www.osha.gov.tw/1106/29647/28004/).
