TAOYUAN BLAZE: Last month’s fire highlighted loopholes and safety flaws in the current regulations governing hazardous chemicals, protesters said
Taipei Times
Date: May 15, 2018
By: Ann Maxon / Staff reporter
A coalition of labor and environmental groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative
Members of the National Association for Firefighters’ Rights, the Green Citizens’ Action Alliance and other groups protest outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday to call for new laws to require factory owners to inform the government, fire departments and local residents of hazardous chemicals at their facilities. Photo: CNA
Yuan in Taipei to demand that the government pass laws requiring factory owners to inform the government, fire departments and area residents of hazardous chemicals stored at their factories.
The protest began an hour after the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee began a meeting to review current policies on chemicals control and disaster prevention in the wake of last month’s fire at a Chin-Poon Industrial Co factory in Taoyuan that killed six firefighters and two Thai employees.
Representatives of the National Association for Firefighters’ Rights, the Migrants Empowerment Network in Taiwan (MENT), the Green Citizens’ Action Alliance and other groups called on the government to increase protection for firefighters, people living near chemical factories and the environment.
Last month’s fire took a heavy toll on the Taoyuan Fire Department because the firefighters were given limited information on the hazardous chemicals stored at the factory before going inside, association advisor Cheng Ya-ling (鄭雅菱) said. [FULL STORY]
