the Labor Inspection Law

Amended by the Council of Labor Affairs on April 16, 1997

Article 1

These Rules are drawn up according to Article 39 of the Labor Inspection Law (hereinafter referred to as the Law)

Article 2

The hazardous machinery or equipment mentioned in the Law refers to the hazardous machines or equipment stipulated in Article 8 of the Labor Safety and Health Law.

Article 3

The labor statutes and regulations mentioned in Item 4 of Article 4 of the Law are statutes and regulations regarding labor insurance, labor welfare, employment service and other related subject-matters.

Article 4

The related authorities mentioned in Paragraph 1 to Article 5 of the Law refers to the Export Processing Zone Administration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Science-Based Industrial Park Administration of the National Science Council, Executive Yuan and other authorities delegated by the central competent authority to perform the functions and duties of labor inspection.

Article 5

Labor inspection institutions delegated in accordance with Paragraph 1, Article 5 of the Law shall regularly submit reports to the central competent authority for the registration of their supervision and inspection activities. The central competent authority shall supervise and evaluate these institutions on a regular or an unannounced basis.

Article 6

The severity rate of occupational accidents mentioned to in Article 6 of the Law refers to the total number of lost work days per one million work hours as the result of incidents of injury of death; the occurance rate of incidents of injury or death refers to the number of incidents per one million work hours.

Article 7

Labor inspection institutions may, in accordance with Article 7 of the Law, request other related groups supply labor inspection materials, including the name of the business entity or the employer, their address, telephone number, the number of workers and other related information.

Article 8

The professional training program mentioned in Article 9 of the Law refers to pre-employment training for the new inspectors and on-the-job training and studies for the currently employed inspectors.

Article 9

New inspectors may not be given individual inspection assignments by the inspection institutions if they have not passed the pre-employment training refered to in the preceding Article. However, if the labor inspection institutions can cite compelling reasons and after receiving formal approval from the central competent authority, this restriction shall be lifted under special circumstances.

Article 10

When labor inspector notifies business entity of the inspection schedule in accordance with Item 1 of Article 13 of the Law, he or she shall confirm that the inspection application or documentation submitted by the business entity pursuant to Article 26 or 38 of the Law has been examined and approved, and the inspection date has been arranged and scheduled by the labor inspection institution.

Article 11

When labor inspector notifies business entity of the inspection schedule in accordance with Item 2 of Article 13 of the, he or she shall confirm that documentation for the application of the inspection of hazardous machinery or equipment submitted by the business entity has been examined and approved, and the inspection date has been arranged and scheduled by the labor inspection institution.

Article 12

When labor inspector notifies business entity of the inspection schedule in accordance with Item 3 of Article 13 of the Law, he or she shall finish the registration of the occurrence of occupational incident in the business entity before proceeding to the notification.

Article 13

When labor inspector engages in the preservation and seizure of materials prescribed in Item 4 of Paragraph 1 to Article 15 of the Law, his or her activity is confined under one of the following circumstances:

1. Violation of what was prohibited by the Labor Safety and Health Law.
2. Violation of related labor statutes and administration regulations.
3. Necessity for the determination of the cause of occupational incident.
4. Other reasons approved by the labor inspection institution.

When the reasons for the preservation and seizure mentioned in the preceding Paragraph have been eliminated or after the labor inspection institutions have approved the application submitted by the business entity, the preserved and seized materials may be released.

Article 14

When labor inspector engages in the preservation and seizure of materials prescribed in Item 4 of Paragraph 1 to Article 15 of the Law, he or she shall produce a list of the preserved and seized materials and place sealing tapes on them.

The sealing tape mentioned in the preceding Paragraph shall bear the seal of the labor inspection institution and list the following items:

1. Name of the inspection institution.
2. Names of the preserved and seized materials.
3. Date on the preservation and seizure.
4. Legal and administrative basis for doing so.

Article 15

When business entity applies for the examination or duplication of the documentation or materials from the labor inspection institution in accordance with Paragraph 3 to Article 15 of the Law, it shall submit a written application within 30 days following the day after inspection; the labor inspection institution shall supply the requested materials with 30 days following the day after reciept of the application.

Article 16

When labor inspector engaging in search and seizure activities in accordance with Article 16 of the Law, he or she shall abide by the related provisions precribed in the Criminal Procedures Law.

Article 17

The inspections of hazardous machinery and equipment may be undertaken by the delegated inspector assigned by the delegated inspection institution prescribed in Article 17 of the Law refers to the fixed-time inspection or other inspection as designated and publicly announced by the central competent authority.

Article 18

The scope of inspection for the administrative authorities or public business entities designated as the delegated inspection institutions in accordance with Article 17 of the Law is limited to the hazardous machinery and equipment owned by their sub-units.

Article 19

Prior to entering into a business entity for inspection as prescribed in Article 22 of the Law, the labor inspector shall inform the employer and labor union of the purpose of the inspection and request them to assign someone to accompany the inspection.

Article 20

The labor inspection identification card shall be replaced once every two years, and shall be returned upon the inspector leaving of the post. The photo of the inspector shall be attached to the labor inspection identification card, which shall contain the following information:

1. The name of the affiliated unit.
2. Name, job title and serial number.
3. Authorization of the statutes and administration regulations and the scope of inspection.
4. Duration of use.

Article 21

In the event that a business wants to contest the contents of the notification of the report of inspection results issued by the labor inspection institution, it shall submit a written request with explanations to the labor inspection institution within 10 days following the day after receipt of the notification of the report.

Before the labor inspection institution adopts other appropriate measures, the time-limit for improvement prescribed in the notification in the preceding Paragraph shall not be discounted despite the contestation of the business entity.

Article 22

The inspection results mentioned in Paragraph 2 to Article 25 of the Law refer to the notification of the report of inspection results issued by the labor inspection institution requesting immediate retification or improvements within a specific time-limit.

Article 23

A business entity shall publicly announce the results of the inspection as prescribed in Paragraph 2 to Article 25 of the Law with one of the following methods:

1. When publicly announce the full contents of the notification of the report of inspection results issued by the labor inspection institution, it shall be publicly displayed in the following areas:

1. The place where the business entity regulate its workers performing their functions and duties.
2. Bulletin boards located in the cafeteria, dormitories and every workplace where the workers are performing their functions and duties.

2. When publicly announce the contents of a single-item violations, only the machinery or place involved will be publicly announced.

Article 24

The workplace mentioned in Article 26 of the Law refers to the cite where, during the duration of labor contract, the workers are providing their labor in accordance with the contract and the employer or the agent performing labor matters for the employer can control or manage.

Article 25

The workplace of the petrochemical industry which process the cracking of petroleum mentioned in Item 1 of Paragraph 1 to Article 26 of the Law refers to the workplace performing the craking of pretroleum products in order to produce basic petrochemical raw materials.

Article 26

The workplaces for manufacturing agricultural chemicals mentioned in Item 2 of Paragraph 1 to Article 26 refers to the workplace where the raw materials, designated and publicly announced by the central authorities, are used to perform the mixing of the original body of agricultural chemicals.

Article 27

The firework manufacturing factories mentioned in Item 3 of Paragraph 1 to Article 26 of the Law refer to the factories manufacturing firecrackers, fireworks and other related materials by using chlorate, perchlorate, nitrate, sulphur, sulphide, phosphide, charcoal ashes, metal ashes and other raw materials. The workplace manufacturing gunpowders or explosives refer to workplace where chemical materials are used to produce explosive products.

Article 28

The capacity mentioned in Item 4 of Paragraph 1 to Article 26 of the Law refers to a high-pressure gas container which has the capacity of handling over one hundred cubic meters per day or its freezing capacity is over twenty metric ton per day (in the case of using freon as a coolant, its freezing capacity is over fifty metric ton per day); In the case of a steam boiler, its area of spreading heat is over five hundred square meters.

Article 29

The quantities of hazardous and harmful materials mentioned in Item 5 of Paragraph 1 to Article 26 of the Law are listed in Tables 1-2 of these Regulations.

Article 30

(Deleted)

Article 31

Major occupational incidents mentioned in Article 27 of the Law refer to one of the following:

1. Any incident in which a fatality is involved.
2. Any incident in which three persons are involved.
3. More than one person required hospitalization as the result of chemical leaks involving ammonia, chlorine, hydrogen fluoride, phosgene, hydrogen sulphur, sulfur dioxide or any other hazardous chemical compounds.
4. Any other incidents designated and publicly announced by the central competent authority.

Article 32

The situation of imminent danger mentioned in Article 28 of the Law refers to anyone of the following:

1. Situations involving leaks of massive quantities of hazardous or harmful materials from the equipment that can cause fire, explosion or exposure of harmful materials and endanger the lives of workers.
2. In tunneling operations that involving falling rocks, flooding, structural collapse, presence of flammable or toxic gases which can cause imminent danger to workers.
3. Working in the inner parts of containers, indoors operating workplace where air circulation is inadequate, or in the workplace where a lack of oxygen can cause a buildup of toxic gases, contaminated by harmful materials or deprivation of oxygen which pose an immenent danger to workers.
4. Other situations as designated by the central competent authority.

Article 33

When labor inspection institution notifies the business entity to stop operations in part or in whole in accordance with Articles 27 to 29 of the Law, the length of stoppage shall be determined by of conditions of the situation.

Should the stoppage in whole mentioned in the preceding Paragraph exceed 7 days, the labor inspection institution shall submit its decision to the central competent authority for examination and approval.

Article 34

The written notification prescribed by Articles 27 through 29 of the Law for stoppage shall include the following categories:

1. The business entity receiving stoppage notice, name and address of the employer.
2. Legal basis for stoppage.
3. Reasons for work stoppage.
4. The starting and ending dates of work stoppage.
5. The scope of work stoppage.
6. The conditions and procedures for filing to resume work.
7. The institutions enforcing work stoppage.

If necessary, the scope of the work stoppage prescribed in Item 5 of the preceding Paragraph shall be defined through the use of photographs and other graphics.

Article 35

The labor inspection institutions, in giving business entities written notification for work stoppage as prescribed in Articles 27 though 29 of the Law, shall post work stoppage notices around the concerned workplace if necessary and install warning signs clearly distinguishing the area of work stoppage.

Article 36

If the business entity applies for resuming work in accordance with Article 30 of the Law, the inspection institutions shall give written notice to resume work after the causes of work stoppage have been eliminated.

The written notification for resuming work mentioned in the preceding Paragraph shall include the following:

1. The name of the business entity applying for resumption, name of the employer and address.
2. The date of resumption of work.
3. The scope of the resumption of work.

Article 37

Agent inspectors upon completion of their inspection of dangerous machinery and equipment shall record inspection failures in the original successful inspection section of the report or in any other necessary documents in order to document inspection failures and make a formal record. Other persons who are present at the inspection shall also sign the inspection records.

Article 38

Article 20 of these Rules shall be applicable to the Agent Inspector identification cards mentioned in Paragraph 4 to Article 31 of the Law.

Article 39

The conspicuous place(s) prescribed in Article 32 of the Law refers to the places listed in Paragraph 1 to Article 32 of these Rules.

Business entities in placing the public notices mentioned in the preceding Paragraph in pursuant to Article 32 of the Law shall be in accordance with the following:

1. The size of the text, the height of the notice(s) and their positions shall be arranged for ease of reading by the workers.
2. The notices shall be in place permanently and shall be replaced with newer copies should they become tarnished.

Article 40

The competent authorities shall enforce the administrative fines stipulated in the Law.

Article 41

These Rules shall be put into practice on the day of promulgation.