Health and Safety

Public health, workplace, and public safety

18-year-old student drops dead in university pool hall: family suspects COVID shot

Emergency Medical Team arrives at university pool hall
Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

An 18-year-old man in good health and physical condition suddenly collapsed and died while playing pool at a university billiards club in southern Taiwan yesterday, and the man’s family suspects his death may be related to a COVID-19 vaccine. According to reports, the student of Nanhua University was in the middle of a game of pool at a billiards club at National Chung Cheng University when he suddenly collapsed at around 7:30 pm, yesterday, November 29. Witnesses at the pool

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Worker dies after being sucked into water pipe: one of at least 3 fatal workplace accidents today

workers on a pipeline project
Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 6 Comments , ,

A man working on a pipeline project in Taichung City lost his life after he was sucked through a hole he had just made in a water pipe Monday, November 30. The 50-year-old man, named Zeng, was working on a Taiwan Water Corporation pipeline replacement project in Tanzi District when the accident occurred at around 11:30 am. The incident was recorded on video from someone standing above the trench. The video footage showed Zeng atop the steel pipe using a

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11 students sent to hospital after pepper spray mistaken for perfume

pepper spray and school composite image
Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

Twelve students at a high school in Taichung City were affected, and 11 sought medical treatment, after one student picked up a can of aerosol pepper spray and sprayed it in the air, thinking it was a perfume or body deodorant. According to reports, shortly before noon on Friday (November 26), two male students at Sanguang Junior High School started playing with a can of “body protection” spray a female student had left in the classroom. Mistaking the product as

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3 dead, 2 injured in metro construction site accident

composite image showing aftermath of scaffolding collapse
Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , , ,

Three workers died and two were injured after a scaffolding collapse on a metro construction site in Sanxia District, New Taipei City, today, November 20. According to reports, scaffolding collapsed at the construction site of the Sanying Line of the New Taipei Metro at the corner of Jiafu Road and Jiaxing Road at around 1:00 pm. Of five workers affected, four fell from a three-storey height, while one was caught in the scaffolding. Three of the workers lost vital signs

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Police escort helps rush woman to hospital after snakebite in Keelung City

composite image showing snakebite and snake
Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

Police in Keelung City provided a patrol car to escort a woman to hospital after she was bitten by a venomous snake Thursday, November 18. Ms Zhan was tending her flower garden at home in Qidu District, Thursday evening, when she was bitten on the ankle by a Taiwanese pit viper, also known as the Taiwan habu (Protobothrops mucrosquamatus). To save time, rather than call an ambulance, Zhan’s husband drove to Fuxing Police Station, and rushed in to inform the

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Doctor performs colonoscopy, internal hemorrhoid surgery on himself

physician in China gives himself a colonoscopy
Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment

A physician in Guangzhou Province, China, gave himself a gastroscopy and a colonoscopy, then removed polyps and hemorrhoids from his own rectum to show patients that getting a gastrointestinal endoscopy is “no big deal.” Zhang Weimin, Director of the Department of Spleen and Stomach Diseases at the Guangzhou Southern Medical University of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine performed the procedures without anesthesia. “I talk to patients about the necessity of gastrointestinal endoscopy every day, but still encounter many patients

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Frequent nasal swabs on pilots causing nosebleeds: a flight safety issue

Aviation Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

Subjecting pilots to frequent nasal swabs to test for COVID-19 has led to severe nosebleeds while pilots are on duty, and it may affect flight safety, according to the Civil Aviation Administration and pilot unions. According to current epidemic prevention regulations, flight crew must be subject to three PCR tests within 14 days of entry, and it is stipulated that these must be in the form of nasopharyngeal swabs. However, many flight crew members have reported that this method causes

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Adventure guide dangles from cliff for 6 hours before rescue

man dangles from rope on cliff
Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

A guide leading a group on a river tracing expedition was left dangling for 6 hours after having a problem with his equipment while scaling a waterfall cliff in a mountain district of Taichung City, yesterday, Sunday, November 14. The guide was leading a group of 15 people in the Qizhongtian Stream in Heping District when he became stuck due to “equipment failure” while 25 meters above ground level. The Taichung City Fire Bureau received a request for help at

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All imported COVID cases today were fully vaccinated

cecc press conference November 15, 2021
Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 3 Comments ,

Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center announced today that there were nine cases of COVID-19 detected among arrivals to the country, all of whom were fully vaccinated. There were no domestic cases reported for the 10th day in a row, and no deaths reported among past or present cases. The nine imported cases were detected among arrivals between October 30 and November 13 from the United States, Indonesia, Germany, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. The cases consisted of five males and

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Expat trail runner finds remains of another missing hiker in remote mountain area

Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 1 Comment , ,

A Czech national resident of Taiwan is gaining a reputation for tracking down lost hikers after finding the remains of a missing man in the mountains of Nantou County, yesterday, Monday, November 8. Petr Novotny, who runs the outdoor sports company Beast Runners came to media attention when he joined the search for a missing off-road motorcyclist in the mountains of Hsinchu County in September this year. In the same month Novotny joined the search for a 60-year-old man named

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Newborn who died one day after birth the youngest suspected vaccine injury reported so far

Centers for Disease Control Central Epidemic Command Center press briefing
Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 1 Comment , ,

Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced that a total of 9 fatalities were added to the vaccine adverse events reporting system yesterday, including a one day old baby whose mother had been vaccinated during pregnancy. CECC spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang, speaking at a daily press briefing November 3, said that the one-day old newborn had died on October 7 due to abnormal blood clotting. Chuang said that the mother had received the first dose of the Moderna vaccine on July

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