New challenges for occupational safety and health in times of the digital transformation in Europe: the role of digital labour platforms

Many studies nowadays focus on taking stock of the platform economy in
Europe (e.g., investigating its magnitude, business models, career and job
characteristics of workers, …), surprisingly the occupational safety and health
(OSH) implications of platform work have remained largely under the radar.
Against this background, the proposed project aims to (i) investigate the OSH
risks and regulations of platform work and (ii) provide recommendations to foster
a safe and healthy occupational environment for platform workers in European
countries based on the results of this study. Pursuing these aims, the project
adopts a mixed-method study design organised into two work packages (WP)
and involves platform workers living in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Spain,
Sweden and the United Kingdom. WP1 will consist in a European mixed-method
cohort of platform workers. WP1 will explore longitudinally ways in which
platform work is associated with OSH-risks and poor health and the experiences
of platform workers in regard to OSH of their jobs. WP2 aims to research ways
for promoting changes for safer and healthier occupational environments for
platform work. For doing so, WP2 will explore how do platform work managers
perceive the OSH of employees/workers, what are the characteristics of
platforms that maintain a healthy work environment and what are the regulatory
contexts and challenges in terms of OSH posed by platform of work. Both WPs
will explore similarities and differences across countries and forms of platform
work, thereby contextualising the findings about health and platform work within
different regulatory environments. The expected results of this project will
provide new and original scientific understanding of an understudied and
evolving challenge for the future world of work. Drawing on the new scientific
understanding, the project will provide new guidance for policymakers,
companies and trade unions to protect the health of the European workforce..