| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立高雄大學 === 法律學系碩士班 === 105 === The purposes of labor inspections are to implement labor laws, protect labor rights and interests, maintain labor safety and health, improve the labor–employer relationship, enhance labor productivity, and promote social construction and economic development. According to Article 4 of Taiwan’s Labor Inspection Act, the scope of labor inspection includes the enforcement of a) the Act, b) the Labor Standards Act, c) the Labor Safety and Health Act, and d) other Labor Acts. Therefore, labor inspections can be loosely divided into two types: general labor inspections and investigations into fatal occupational accidents.
Investigations into fatal occupational accidents are initiated in response to fatal occupational accidents. In contrast to general labor inspections, the primary purposes of investigating fatal occupational accidents are to a) investigate the causes, b) prevent additional fatalities and injuries, c) determine the responsible persons or parties, and d) file an incident report to prevent similar accidents in the future.
Currently, there are only 404 labor inspectors in Taiwan, a large disparity to the number of institutions subject to labor inspections. In addition, the ratio of labor inspectors to workers has long been substantially behind the international standard. Ineffective implementation of labor inspections may be partially attributed to the division of inspection powers caused by the establishment of separate jurisdictions of multiple agencies. Accordingly, any infringements of social welfare must be investigated and mitigated.
Protecting the basic rights of the people is an aspect of the modern rule of law, and the principle of rule of law and due process are the basic principles that guide administrative investigations. Although the Labor Inspection Act provides for mandatory administrative investigations following fatal workplace accidents, it does not address possible infringement or curtailment of the basic rights protected by the constitution (e.g., freedom of residence, right of privacy, informational self-determination, and property rights) concerning individuals involved in various investigative methods (e.g., requesting the respondents’ presence during the investigation, requesting written information, and the inspector’s right to enter the premises) and due process during fatal accident investigation (e.g., informing the respondents’ of their rights, counseling for an administrative remedy, and informing the respondents of their right to make a statement of opinion). In addition, the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act are inadequate for providing comprehensive guidance on administrative protocols regarding labor inspections. Therefore, the primary research focus of this paper is to develop procedures for fatal accident investigation that practically empower administrative agencies to facilitate efficient implementation while providing a minimum protection for people’s basic rights through due process.
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