OSH News
Back to OSH newsLong irregular working hours and algorithmic control; some psychosocial risk factors in digital platform work
Image
© Laiotz - stock.adobe.com
The Spanish Institute for Safety and Health at Work has published a new report about how digital platform work (DPW) impacts occupational safety and health (OSH) specifically inquiring into psychosocial risks factors.
The study found out that:
- DPW boosts pre-existing psychosocial risks (linked to stress) and creates new risks, such as cyber harassment. In Spain, localised passenger transport and delivery services workers are the most affected workers by stress.
- Long irregular working hours and similar precarious working conditions linked to the atypicality of DPW increase the chance of suffering a high degree of stress, particularly in Spain.
- Management through algorithms (algorithmic control) is associated with a number of psychosocial risk factors and stress generation, particularly for remote workers working in digital platforms.
Read the full report: Desafíos de la digitalización para la seguridad y salud en el trabajo. La emergencia de riesgos psicosociales y el trabajo de plataformas digitales (in Spanish, abstract available in English)
Read EU-OSHA’s thematic page on digitalisation.