Gig economy roles and responsibilities in WHS

Project status: Complete

How can we make sure Food Delivery Workers are safe on our roads?

Get the How-to guide for food delivery safety messaging

There has been a rapid growth in the gig economy over the last decade, largely due to the popularity of food delivery apps like Uber Eats. The change in service has shifted from a traditional model of restaurants and cafes needing to hire their own delivery staff to a range of apps that easily connect services and customers to deliverers.

Despite the benefits, there are still questions around worker rights and WHS responsibilities when considering the roles of app operators and food delivery workers (FDWs).

There are known controls in other industries where gig work has been a longstanding way to resource the workforce, however research into risks and controls applied by app-based business structures has been limited.

Until now.

Delivering safer controls for food delivery workers

Partnering with The Behavioural Insights Team and Macquarie University, our research set out to establish a better understanding of the WHS perceptions and behaviours in the Australian gig economy.

Through the co-design process, we found that FDWs were likely to take bigger risks due to the perceived consequences of not delivering within estimated times communicated to customers. A trial was designed to send in-app messaging to FDWs, offering information about their personal safety while on shift.

A significant change and resource

The trial demonstrated a statistically significant drop in the average travel speeds of FDWs who opened and read the messages.

This has led to the development of the How-to guide on road safety messaging, coaching Food Delivery Platforms on how to implement their own messaging campaigns to improve WHS outcomes for FDWs.

Download the How-to guide now

Further reading

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