Newsletter
Precaution Measures for Karoshi Issues
1. The Karoshi (death from overwork) issue has recently caught the general public's attention. The labor inspection units at the labor authorities therefore plan to strengthen their workforce on labor inspection in 2015 in order to protect employees' health and enhance safety.
2. Article 6 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act was enacted to prevent Karoshi incidents from happening. The employers are thereby required to adopt necessary safety and health measures for those of the employees who perform exceptional work, such as working shifts, working at night, and have long working hours.
3. As precautionary measures to avoid the occurrence of Karoshi accidents, the Occupational Safety and Health Agency of the Ministry of Labor also published "Guidelines Concerning the Prevention of Illness Caused by Exceptional Works" and "Guidelines Concerning the Establishment of Causation between Occupation and Cerebrovascular/Cardiovascular Disease". Below are two of the key points mentioned in the documents:
(1) To assess whether an employee is overloaded with work and have to work long hours, the employees' hours of overtime (i.e. working hours exceeding 84 hours every two weeks) within one to six months before the occurrence of the illness should be taken into consideration. The chance that the cause of the illness was due to overtime work would be deemed high if an employee's (i) overtime work exceeds 92 hours a month before the occurrence of the illness, or (ii) overtime work was done 72 hours or more every month within two to six months prior to the occurrence of the illness.
(2) If an employee's hours of overtime work is 37 hours or more within one to six months prior to the occurrence of the illness, the chances of the causation of the illness being overtime work should increase according to the increased number of accumulated hours of overtime work. A review of each individual case is required and will be considered on a case by case basis