Taichung City Environmental Protection Bureau Aligns Clean Team Safety Management with International Standards, Achieves ISO 45001 Certification

The Taichung City Environmental Protection Bureau is promoting the 'systematization' and 'internationalization' of occupational safety and health management for its cleaning teams. This year (115), the Fengyuan District Cleaning Team has taken the lead in implementing the ISO 45001:2018 international occupational health and safety management system. Since 2021 (Year 110), the Dajia and Zhongxi District Cleaning Teams have successively established the system and achieved significant reductions in workplace incidents. Notably, Dajia District saw a nearly 50% reduction in its comprehensive injury index, while Zhongxi District achieved a zero-injury workplace for the year, demonstrating the tangible benefits of system implementation on occupational safety.

Wu Sheng-chung, Director of the Environmental Protection Bureau, emphasized that the municipal government has long prioritized worker safety and rights. With a forward-looking international perspective, the bureau is fostering a top-down occupational safety culture through institutionalized and systematic management. Achieving ISO 45001:2018 certification aligns with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Target 8.8 under SDG 8: 'Protect labor rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers.' This reflects a human-centered institutional framework that ensures staff safety.

The bureau stresses that employee safety is the sustainable foundation of public service. Only by providing a safe and healthy work environment can service quality remain stable. Moving forward, the bureau will adopt a horizontal expansion strategy to promote the refinement of occupational safety and health management systems across all cleaning teams, allowing a positive synergy between improved workplace safety and municipal services to jointly support urban aesthetics and growth.

The bureau further explained that establishing an internationally recognized standard system is challenging but also a process that tests organizational cohesion and collective consensus. Through self-guided development and revision of system documents tailored to cleaning teams, each unit is gradually transforming from 'passively meeting standards' to 'actively implementing safety culture.' Full participation in continuous improvement enables effective hazard elimination, reduction of occupational health and safety risks, and progress toward zero incidents, creating a safe, healthy, and friendly high-quality work environment for all staff.