Health Hazard associated with overwork amid the COVID-19 Pandemic 

Huang Yi-Ling/ translated by  Joseph Yeh

JUN 22 2020

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Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic was first reported in China in late 2019, Taiwan government had made swift epidemic control measures so that the country has so far managed to contain the spread of the virus. In Jan. 20, Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control officially established the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) to coordinate the fight the coronavirus across different government branches.  

Since then, for 140 consecutive day, the CECC held its daily news briefing to report to Taiwanese nationals the latest updates of the pandemic. On June 7, the CECC held its last daily news briefing before announcing to turn the daily event into a weekly one, given the current success of containment efforts in the country.   As of June 7, the total number of COVID-19 cases stood at 443 since the outbreak began late last year, with seven casualties and only six patients were still being hospitalized while others had fully recovered. June 7 also marked the 56th consecutive day that Taiwan has not reported any domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases.

However, the success containment of the pandemic came at the price of the sacrifices of many quarantine and health workers who stood at the frontline of the nation’s epidemic control. Their health are facing high risks due to their tireless efforts in combating the coronavirus disease. 

Workers Affected by the Pandemic 

Quarantine and health workers are without doubt the ones that are most affected by to the pandemic because they are being forced to work overtime. They, however, are not the only groups of people that are affected by the pandemic. Technicians that were responsible for assembling 92 extra surgical face mask production lines within the country in a matter of months to boost the country’s daily production capacity to 20 million per day, were also forced to work overtime.

Those who help to deliver rationed masks to drugstores, convenient stores countrywide, such as postmen and private deliverers, were also extremely busy over the past months with the extra working loads.  Those who are facing seriously overwork also included sanitation workers in Taiwan. For instance, as part of its efforts to combat COVID-19, Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (TRTC) has stepped up disinfection efforts at its stations. Trains are now being disinfected before departure every 8 hours while ticket vending machines are being disinfected every 4 hours. According to local media reports, some sanitation workers have been complaining that they have become so busy due to its disinfection works that some of them did not even have time to eat.

The working load of local banks employees have also been significantly increased recently in response to a number of government-initiated relief packages in response to the economic impacts on the country due to the pandemic.  For instance, government had previously announced that it would soon offer preferential short-term loans to workers who have suffered a loss of income due to the pandemic and the applications can be made at local banks. Latest numbers showed that a total of 1.1 million people have applied to such short-term loans, leaving huge complaints made by bank staffers who are responsible for processing these applications.

The working loads of all these above mentioned workers have been significantly added due to the COVID-19 even though their working hours are not necessarily increased. For instance, the sanitation workers might only need to disinfect MRT trains or vending machines twice a day before the pandemic but now they had to do it far more often. Security guards are also forced to do extra works as they now might need to take people’s temperature and spray alcohol hand sanitizers on them, which are all extra works and things they did not need to do before the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Longer working hours due to pandemic

The article 32 and 40 of Taiwan’s Labor Standards Act stipulate that an employer can ask his or her employee to perform the work beside their regular working hours “due to the occurrence of an act of God, an accident, or an unexpected event.” An employer may also require workers to suspend all leaves of absence under the same Act. In accordance to the Act, an employee can be asked to work for more than 12 hours a day, which is the original maximum daily working hour. 

Some have argued that it is still debatable whether the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic constitutes as “the occurrence of an act of God, an accident, or an unexpected event.” However, the Ministry of Labor has insisted that major infectious diseases like the COVID-19, falls under the category of “the occurrence of an act of God, an accident, or an unexpected event,” as stipulated in the Labor Standards Act, since as early as in 1998. And therefore, the ministry argued that an employer can ask its employees to work more 12 hours a day and for more than six consecutive days, under the Act.

The same Act also stipulates that the extension of working hours should be done with the consent of a labor union, in the event that there is no labor union exists in a business entity, discussions over the matter are to be done with the approval of a labor-management conference. In respect of the suspended leaves of absence, the employer should file a report stating reasons with the local labor authorities for the approval of the suspension within 24 hours after the end off suspension, according to the Act. However, even though workers can get their suspended day-offs later, the extending working hours and suspending days-off would definitely increase the risk of occupational injuries and other health problems on them. 

Overwork leads to higher health risks 

Many researches conducted worldwide have already shown that those working more than 11 hours per day have 2.9 times higher risk of exercising acute myocardial infarction, comparing with those working 7 to 9 hours a day. Those who work 66 hours per week, meanwhile, have 1.88 times higher risk of experiencing work-related accidents than their counterparts working fewer than 66 hours per week.

Meanwhile, those who cannot take regular weekly off or work more than six days in a row, have higher chance of having atherosclerosis, obesity, dyslipidemia, metabolic syndrome, and are more prone to work-related accidents, according to studies.  Longer working hour could also lead to stiffness or pain in the shoulders, back, or neck and stress or mental health issues, among other health problems.  

According to statistics provided by Bureau of Labor Insurance, a labor died or disabled due to overwork every eight days in Taiwan, showing an ugly truth that overworking issue has been a major problem in the country.  

Fatigue and exhaustion due to overwork not only leads to cardiovascular diseases, it could also lead to higher risks in occupational injuries. Worker fatigue increases the risk for illnesses and injuries. Only recently, a worker at a face mask factory in central Changhua County accidently cut her finger while operating a production line, leading to amputation.

It is true that the combat against the COVID-19 pandemic is a race against time in terms of the production of epidemic control supplies, the development of vaccines and the screening and testing of virus samples, among others. However, we should also note that long working hours could lead to a number of health hazards. Related public and private sectors should come up with more efficient working procedures and to deploy more manpower beforehand in necessary so that we can win over the long term fight against the COVID-19.