An investigation and analysis of major accidents involving foreign workers in Taiwan's manufacture and construction industries

Foreign workers' language, culture, and life habit differences when working abroad and employers' negligence regarding work safety for laborers during the employment period often cause serious occupational accident rates. To better understand the possible reasons why foreign workers experience major accidents when employed in the manufacture and construction industries, we collected 354 major foreign worker accident cases (2000-2010) that occurred in Taiwan. The results of the correlation analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) provided the following information: Improper protective equipment in workplaces and inadequate worker hazard awareness or cognition in the manufacture industry, and poor equipment or structural design in the construction industry, are the main causes of accidents; enterprises with sizes between 30 to 99 and over 500 employees show high accident rates; and because of insufficient safety and health management, temporary foreign workers in the construction industry and machine facility or equipment operators in the manufacture industry experienced a high number of accidents caused by the collapse of objects or being clamped/trapped. We suggest that industries should enhance the safety and health education and training of foreign workers and provide safety or protective gear for the working environment or equipment to ensure occupational safety for foreign laborers.