Taiwan's construction deaths rise to 102 as three in four victims work for subcontractors

Falls caused 62% of the construction deaths, according to ministry figures reported by CNA. Construction accounted for more than half of the 193 deaths recorded through Sept. 30, down from 213 a year earlier. Manufacturing deaths fell by seven to 45. New Taipei had the most deaths of any city or county, 31, followed by Kaohsiung with 27.

Nearly 90% of the construction deaths happened on private building projects. New factory and office builds alone killed 20 workers, seven of them on technology plant projects and four inside science parks, CNA reported.

A planning division chief at the ministry's Occupational Safety and Health Administration told CNA the 74% share shows that multi-tier subcontracting still has a long way to go on bringing in machinery, controlling who is on site and training crews. The ministry recently amended rules under the Occupational Safety and Health Act so that the principal contractor has to spell out who manages safety when work is subcontracted or several firms share a site. It is also lining up inspections of tech plant jobs with other agencies and wants owners to consider third-party safety oversight.

The figures came out on Nov. 3, the morning a three-story section of scaffolding fell at the demolished Old Beitou Market in Taipei, injuring a worker and three passersby. According to Mayor Chiang Wan-an, the scaffold should have been taken down after demolition, and the city fined the contractor NT$2.5 million (US$76,234), the most its contract allows, Focus Taiwan reported.