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

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 Nordic young workers (age 18- 30) who
find work through digital work 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 selfemployed,
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 acceptable 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.