To strengthen corporate attention to occupational health and safety (OHS) within ESG governance frameworks, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Ministry of Labor, held the “2025 International Forum on Sustainable Workplace Health and Safety” on July 21 at the NCCU Public Governance Center. The event featured both domestic and international experts sharing insights on ESG development trends and the value of cultivating workplace health and safety culture, drawing participation from over 200 representatives across industry, government, and academia.

OSHA Director-General Lin Yu-Tang emphasized in his remarks that a healthy workforce is the cornerstone of enterprise resilience and a core value of national sustainable development. In recent years, OSHA has actively promoted the “Healthy Workforce for Sustainable Development Program,” encouraging enterprises to include OHS in their sustainability reports. The initiative also supports enhanced physical and mental health for workers and the establishment of dignified, friendly, inclusive, innovative, and human-centered organizational cultures.

At the forum, Michelle Garner-Janna, Co-Founder of the U.S.-based What Works Institute, presented on international ESG trends and pointed out that workers’ physical and mental well-being has become a key focus in corporate disclosure. She emphasized that companies that invest in mental health literacy, leadership training, and employee participation mechanisms can not only reduce risk but also stimulate innovation and improve retention. Psychologically healthy and safe workplaces can increase team performance by 3.5 times and boost retention rates by up to 40%. Garner-Janna called on enterprises to incorporate mental health into mainstream ESG governance and move from passive risk control toward strategic value creation.

Micron Technology Taiwan also shared its implementation of the “Live Safe” workplace safety culture, echoing OSHA’s healthy workforce initiative and emphasizing that “everyone deserves to go home safe.” Micron’s OHS strategy integrates top-down governance and frontline participation, including the adoption of AI-based risk alert systems and the Space-Time Information Management (STIM) platform to enhance plant safety efficiency. Beyond basic OHS management, Micron also focuses on employee well-being by providing mental health consultations, digital wellness tools, flexible working hours, and paid volunteer leave. Additionally, it has launched a “Live Safe” university-industry collaboration course to cultivate local OHS talent and deepen healthy workplace governance.

The forum also explored how enterprises can shift from lagging indicators to proactive measures that reflect employee well-being, strengthen health and safety throughout supply chains, and promote collaboration between senior leadership and frontline staff in building psychologically safe cultures. OSHA emphasized that maintaining a healthy workplace is not the responsibility of a single department, but a shared commitment across organizations and policy systems. The agency called on enterprises to move beyond basic compliance and toward cultural transformation, recognizing healthy workforces as strategic assets that drive innovation, happiness, and shared sustainability.