Eleven food and food delivery companies have agreed not to ask their couriers to work on days when work is canceled due to typhoons or other natural disasters, the Ministry of Labor said on Friday.
Foodpanda, Uber Eats, Lalamove, Foodomo, Deliveroo, YoWoo Food Delivery, McDonald’s Taiwan, Pizza Hut, KFC, Napoli Pizza and Domino’s Pizza agreed to the safety guidelines, the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said that it also urged companies to take all steps possible to ensure the safety of their delivery staff, such as providing them with high-visibility vests and helmets, as well as giving them safety training.
Some companies engage independent contractors — not employees — to deliver food, which some have said falls outside the scope of safety and health regulations, but companies must comply with the provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法), Occupational Safety Division head Lee Wen-chin (李文進) said.
According to Article 51 of the act, individuals engaged in work directed by a company supervisor are covered as much by safety and health regulations as the company’s own employees, Lee said.
Companies face a maximum fine of NT$300,000 for occupational injuries resulting from a breach of the regulations, he said.
Non-legally binding guidelines for the safety of food couriers would be introduced soon and would likely include a clause that they are not required to work on typhoon days off to reduce the number of traffic accidents involving delivery staff, the ministry said.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
A mountain blaze that broke out yesterday morning in Yangmingshan National Park was put out after five hours, following multi agency efforts involving dozens of fire trucks and helicopter water drops. The fire might have been sparked by an air quality sensor operated by the National Center for High-Performance Computing, one of the national-level laboratories under the National Applied Research Laboratories, Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters said. The Taipei City Fire Department said the fire, which broke out at about 11am yesterday near the mountainous Xiaoyoukeng (小油坑) Recreation Area was extinguished at 4:32pm. It had initially dispatched 72 personnel in four command vehicles, 16
RSS