What is it about?
Employment relations are challenged and transformed in the Platform Economy. This means that the placement of responsibilities for OSH in the Platform Economy is relegated to the young workers. Young workers on digital platforms experience a ‘protective gap’ when it comes to occupational health and safety.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
Ditte is a 24-year-old student with a profile on the platform Dogley. Here she is booked by private customers to walk their dogs. If Ditte is bitten during work, she is not protected by any insurance, only the dog is covered by the insurance, if something happens.
Perspectives
This study demonstrated that young workers are not aware of the formal rights and obligations that are relegated to them. The digital labour platforms often operate in a way that makes the young workers see them as their employers, as they control payment, and instructions, provide support functions, provide clothes and equipment with the company logo on, and for some of them, their work is managed through algorithmic management systems, wherefrom detailed instructions and control emanate. This contributes to the impression among the young workers that the digital platforms also take care of OSH and cover them in case of an injury. Unfortunately, many of these young workers are working without any kind of insurance that would cover them in the event of an occupational injury. They are themselves responsible for the OSH related to their work via the platforms.
Johnny Dyreborg
The National Research Centre for the Working Environment
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Who takes care of safety and health among young workers? Responsibilization of OSH in the platform economy, Safety Science, May 2022, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.ssci.2022.105674.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
