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. However, the occupational health implications of platform work remain insufficiently understood, particularly regarding how risks differ across platform worker groups.

Objective:

This study aimed to explore how platform workers experience their working conditions and how platform work affects their health, wellbeing, and safety.

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 into three groups (5–6 participants per group). Across five sessions, participants documented their working lives through photographs and discussed them collectively, generating 105 photographs in total. Data were analyzed collaboratively to identify key 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 platform labor to better capture the diversity of workers’ experiences and exposures.