Taiwan Requires Silica Monitoring In Specified Manufacturing Workplaces

Taiwan’s Ministry of Labor has designated manufacturing workplaces where employers must add monitoring of crystalline free silica concentrations from 1 January 2027. The notice issued on 4 November 2026 covers specified indoor dust-producing operations in artificial stone, glass, ceramics and basic-metal casting. It is a monitoring requirement, rather than a ban on those materials.

Operations Covered

For artificial-stone manufacturing, the notice lists particular cutting, carving, finishing, abrasive and powder-mixing operations. Some powered-tool categories expressly exclude hand-held or portable tools. Glass manufacturing is covered for indoor raw-material mixing.

The designation also includes specified indoor mixing, forming and finishing operations in refractory materials, clay building materials and other ceramics. For steel, aluminium, copper and other basic-metal casting, it lists particular powder-handling, sand-mould removal, sand-reclamation, sand-mixing and casting-finishing operations. Coverage depends on the operation, not simply the industry name. Notice, points 1–4.

Exemptions From Additional Monitoring

An otherwise covered workplace may be exempt where the raw material, minerals or sand contain no crystalline free silica, or contain no more than 1% by weight.

A separate exemption applies where the notice’s calculation—respirable nuisance-dust concentration multiplied by the crystalline free silica weight fraction in the materials—produces a result below 0.01 mg/m³. These are alternative grounds for exemption from the additional monitoring requirement. Notice, point 5.

The ministry issued the designation under Article 17(2)(4)(2) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act Enforcement Rules and Article 6(2) of the workplace environmental monitoring regulations, the two legal bases identified in the notice.