Occupational hazards - March 2025

IN LATE 2023, there were 435 million gig workers worldwide, with demand for gig work having grown by 41 per cent since 2016. 

Gig and platform work involves providing services requested by customers and users online. Tasks range from taxi driving and food deliveries to software development and graphic design. 

For many of these people, the flexibility and independence it offers is a real positive. However, serious questions must be asked about the impact of gig work on safety and health.

Platform workers in the gig economy are reported to experience poor OSH management, long and unpredictable working hours, a shortage of places to take breaks and lack of bathroom or similar facilities. 

Online platform work can lead to physical issues such as eye strain and musculoskeletal problems. There can also be issues with time pressure and isolation.

These issues and more are highlighted in IOSH’s new white paper, A platform for success: building a better future in the gig economy. This paper shines a light on these issues, showcasing the results of a survey IOSH commissioned last year of 1,000 platform workers and making a series of calls to action for the UK Government.

Of the survey respondents, 58 per cent said that platform work makes it difficult to care for dependants, including children and elderly relatives. Meanwhile, 63 per cent said it impacts on their ability to take holidays and 54 per cent suffer from low levels of job security.

It’s not right that workers are experiencing this. That’s why we’re calling the Government to take action through a number of measures, including: 

• using up-to-date evidence to make informed policy decisions on the platform and gig economy;
• find alternatives to zero-hours contracts that protect workers’ health, safety and wellbeing;
• passing legislation that gives gig workers the same rights as other employees;
• and implementing regulations for workers to report poor treatment and conditions.

We believe that these measures will go some way toward creating better working conditions in the gig and platform economy and alleviating some of the health and safety risks associated with it. As the paper recognises, there is some precedent from around the world. In Singapore, the introduction of the Platform Workers Bill is significant. This means that gig economy workers can get compensation in the event of injury, while it also gives greater retirement benefits and allows worker representation. This proposed law will create a new category between employees and the self-employed and will be accompanied by a new code of practice.

Spain has introduced the ‘Rider Law’, that paved the way for the EU Platform Work Directive, which categorises food-delivery gig workers as employees. The law also compels gig employers to be transparent about the role played by machine-learning algorithms in their decisions when allocating work.

The UK Government’s Employment Rights Bill 2024 appears to open the way for securing predictable working conditions and a right to guaranteed hours to those workers likely to be on zero-hours contracts. But access to essential social protections and health and safety protections for gig and platform workers might not happen straight away, with positive changes to their working conditions unlikely to occur before 2026-27.

It’s time to take action. 

Dr Ivan Williams Jimenez is senior policy and public affairs manager at the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health. For more information, visit www.iosh.com