JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The platform-based economy has expanded rapidly through the integration of digital platforms into sectors such as transportation, delivery, and freelance work. Platform labor combines features of precarious employment and digitalized work organization, encompassing both location-based and web-based work. Platform workers are often treated as a homogeneous group despite substantial differences in job tasks, working conditions, and worker characteristics. Consequently, it remains unclear which health and safety risks are linked to shared features of platform-mediated work, and which reflects occupation-specific working conditions.

Objective:

This study aimed to compare how taxi drivers, delivery couriers, and online freelancers experience platform-specific and occupation-specific determinates of health, wellbeing, and safety, and to identify worker-informed solutions to address them.

Methods:

A participatory photovoice study was conducted with platform-based taxi drivers, delivery couriers, and freelancers living in Stockholm. Between September and November 2022, 16 participants were recruited through convenience sampling, operationalized through a targeted social media campaign, and divided into three occupation-specific groups (5-6 participants per group). Each group participated in five weekly sessions involving photo documentation, group discussion, collaborative coding and analysis, and the development of themes and recommendations related to working conditions, health, and wellbeing.

Results:

Participants identified 14 themes representing major determinants of health, wellbeing, and safety at work, as well as 23 recommendations for improving working conditions. Workers reported exposure to both platform-specific risks, including algorithmic management and digital surveillance, and traditional occupational risks such as psychosocial strain, ergonomic challenges, and traffic-related hazards. Experiences differed substantially across platform work types. Delivery and taxi drivers reported greater exposure to physical and traffic-related risks, whereas freelancers emphasized psychosocial demands and digital work intensification. Economic insecurity and costs associated with maintaining work equipment emerged as common challenges across all groups. Attitudes toward flexibility, autonomy, and algorithmic management also varied between worker categories.

Conclusions:

This study highlights important similarities and differences in working conditions and health risks across platform work types. The findings suggest that research and occupational health interventions targeting platform workers should differentiate between specific forms of digital platform work to better capture the diversity of workers’ experiences and exposures.