Who takes care of safety and health among young workers? Responsibilization of OSH in the platform economy

Abstract

This study explores how young workers experience employment relations and responsibility for Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) in the platform economy. The study is based on 29 qualitative interviews with young Nordic workers (age 18–30) who find work through digital labour platforms and social media platforms. The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work asserts that the placement of responsibilities for OSH in the platform economy is challenged by the unclear categorisations of employers, employees and self-employed, and that existing labour law and OSH legislation might be inapplicable. Even though most platforms position workers as self-employed, the study shows that the young workers rarely experience themselves as being self-employed and assume that the platforms take care of OSH. When operating in this grey zone, the young workers risk being left without protection and societal resources for improving their OSH. Rasmussen’s model ‘migration towards the boundary of unacceptable safety performance’ is used to discuss how work activities in platform work is driven by strong cost and effort gradients, while, the counter gradient, in terms of OSH systems, at the same time is very weak or completely absent.