Labor Commission Conducts Spot Check on Outdoor Site Work Conditions
Taipei City has seen extreme heat surpassing 36-degree Celsius for several days since the Dragon Boat Festival. To inspect the measures adopted by construction site management to help workers deal with the heat, Labor Commissioner Chen Hsin-yu conducted a spot check at a construction site in Zhongzheng District on June 29.
Upon arrival at the site, readings taken at 10:47 AM indicated a max heat stress of 58.0 (temperature of 40C and relative humidity of 42.8%). With heat hazard reaching level 4, the management is required to take steps such as lowering workplace temperature, providing shades for resting and water, adjusting working hours, and increasing patrols at the site.
The spot check revealed that the construction site violated regulations due to the failure of providing beverages or normal saline to the workers. The management was issued a warning and need to implement improvements.
The City’s Labor Inspection Office initiated working condition inspections targeting outdoor jobs with high risk work conditions such as construction workers, food delivery, works holding advertisement pickets, gardeners, and road workers starting June 1. As of June 28, the agency carried out a total of 717 spot checks. It also dispatched group messages on 5 occasions to the managers city-affiliated construction sites, reminding them to implement heat stroke prevention measures after receiving orange and red-light high temperature warning from the Department of Environmental Protection.
Commissioner Chen remind employers to adopt preventive measures during days of blazing heat to protect workers’ health. In addition to fatigue and lowered concentration, those working while being exposed to extreme heat and sunlight are more prone to workplace accidents.
