Ended on 31 August, 39.3 percent of the 2126 Companies inspected by Taiwan’s Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) have been found in violation of labelling and communication measures of hazardous substances. The unqualified companies are ordered to conduct rectification within a deadline, if failing again the follow-up re-examination, they will be fined of 30,000 to 150,000 yuan.
This inspection is conducted in accordance with the Regulation of Labelling and Hazard Communication of Dangerous and Harmful Materials ( hereinafter referred to as the Regulation) promulgated by CLA on October 19, 2007. The violations are against articles of the Regulation, such as Article5, 10, 12, 15 and 17 in the areas of classification, hazard pictogram, labeling contents, inventory of hazardous materials, communication measures.
According to Article2 of the Regulation, the hazardous substances designated in the Regulation are:
Those listed in Attachment 1 of the Regulation
In addition to Attachment 1, chemicals that possess physical hazards or health hazards as specified in National Standards CNS 15030 Classification and Labelling of Chemicals
Any others designated by the Competent Authority of the Central Government of Taiwan
Until now, 2151 hazardous substances are under the Regulation, which are released in two stages, stage one of 1062 substances and stage two of 1089 substances. In addition to the 413 substances listed in Attachment 1 of the Regulation, the other 649 substances of stage one were released on 5 December 2008 by the Order of Lao-An-3-Tzu-No. 0970146313. Then on 7 January of last year, the 1089 substances are released by the Order of Lao-An-3-Tzu-No.0990146707 according to Point2 of Article2.
Through this inspection, many problems are found in manufacturing, disposal and use of the hazardous substances. The CLA calls on an establishment of labor safety and health management system and an emergency-response mechanism. In addition to provide hazard communication training for workers, safety protection tools are required to prevent occupational disasters.
