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Sociotechnical systems thinking (left) illustrates the interaction between the various levels and the environment. The migration model (right) demonstrates the space of possibilities and gradients toward the boundary of acceptable performance (adapted from Rasmussen, 1997).

Sociotechnical systems thinking (left) illustrates the interaction between the various levels and the environment. The migration model (right) demonstrates the space of possibilities and gradients toward the boundary of acceptable performance (adapted from Rasmussen, 1997).

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Article
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Organizational fragmentation presents a challenge to prominent safety perspectives hinged upon the traditional concept of the organization. The continuing disjunction in the workplace has reached new heights in the recent phenomenon of platform-mediated work (PMW), where workers engage in on-demand labor mediated by platforms. In this paper, the ex...

Contexts in source publication

Context 1
... systems thinking facilitates a multi-level perspective (left in Figure 1) to elucidate complex processes and interdependencies that influence work at the sharp end where humans increasingly interact with technology (Carayon et al., 2015;Leveson, 2004). The higher the level, the greater degrees of freedom (design, decisions, and time horizons) and uncertainties in foreseeing local contingencies at the lower levels (Rasmussen, 1997). ...
Context 2
... discussing the trend towards fragmentation and conflicting goals at the sharp end in PMW, we take Rasmussen´s (1997) migration model (right in Figure 1) as a starting point in analyzing tensions between safety and other organizational goals. The model exhibits how individuals and organizations strive to achieve safety while working towards other organizational goals such as economic viability and acceptable workload (Hollnagel, 2017;Hu et al., 2020). ...

Citations

... Menurut (Nilsen, Kongsvik, & Almklov, 2022) dan (Mshana et al., 2022), kontrak kerja harus mencerminkan kesepakatan kedua belah pihak tanpa adanya tekanan atau penyalahgunaan kekuasaan. ...
Article
The gig economy has emerged as a global phenomenon, reshaping traditional work patterns, including in Indonesia. While offering flexibility to workers, this work model poses significant challenges concerning legal protection, especially in work relationships mediated by digital platforms. Gig workers often find themselves in vulnerable positions due to insufficient regulations and an imbalance in bargaining power between them and digital platforms. This study aims to analyze the legal protection for gig economy workers in Indonesia from a civil law perspective, highlighting gaps in existing regulations and offering recommendations for reform. This research employs a qualitative approach with a descriptive-analytical method. Data were obtained through literature review, analysis of electronic work contracts, and comparisons with gig economy regulations in other countries, such as the European Union and the United States. The findings reveal that electronic work contracts used by digital platforms in Indonesia are often unfair and favor the platforms. Furthermore, Indonesia’s gig economy regulations do not provide adequate protection, unlike countries such as the European Union, which have established minimum standards for gig workers' protection. This imbalance adversely affects gig workers’ welfare, including financial insecurity and lack of access to social security. This study contributes to the development of a more inclusive and equitable regulatory framework for gig workers in Indonesia. The implications include the need for civil law reforms to govern gig economy work relationships and the use of technology as a tool to enhance legal oversight. This research also lays the groundwork for future studies exploring the implementation of gig economy regulations in the context of other developing countries.
... The transformative power of technology reshapes markets and social interactions, necessitating meaningful discourse on governance systems to ensure decent and safe working conditions (Nilsen, Kongsvik, & Almklov, 2022). According to Grabher and van Tuijl (2020), platforms accelerate the shift from long-term employment to gig work, transforming professional careers into contractual portfolios shaped by online reputation capital (as cited in Makó et al., 2022). ...
Article
The gig economy in the European Union (EU) has significantly transformed traditional labour markets, prompting critical discussions about worker rights and protections. This article presents a narrative review of the literature on gig work within the EU, focusing on the Platform Work Directive. It explores the challenges of employment status classification, rights and protections for gig workers, the role of algorithmic management, social security inclusion, the impact on platform companies, and policy implications. By synthesizing existing research, the article highlights the broader policy implications for labour protection across the EU and considers potential future developments in this rapidly evolving sector.
... In PMW, traditional open-ended employment contracts and hierarchical structures are replaced by peer-to-peer, on-demand services and ideas of entrepreneurship, autonomy, and flexibility (Ahsan, 2020;Aloisi, 2015). By classifying workers as self-employed or independent, platform companies relegate responsibility (Nilsen et al., 2022a), including financial risks, to individual workers and create ambiguities in existing regulations and labor institutions (Sharma, 2022). Therefore, platforms are described as fervent advocates of neoliberal ideologies that shift company responsibilities to individuals (Fleming, 2017;Murillo et al., 2017;Zwick, 2018). ...
... Specific risk factors include traffic, weather conditions, working alone, and customer interaction (Nilsen and Kongsvik, 2023;Tran and Sokas, 2017). As freelancers and self-employed workers, safety and traditional employer responsibilities are relegated to the individual rider (Nilsen et al., 2022a). Tasks are distributed through an app, and algorithms determine worker compensations, performance ratings, and potentially increase the work pressure (Griesbach et al., 2019). ...
Article
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The Nordic working life model (NWLM) promotes ‘good work’ on societal and workplace levels. However, this model is now challenged by emerging business models in the platform economy. This study investigates how digital labor platforms respond to conflicting institutional logics and how platform-mediated work intervenes with the inherent logic of the NWLM. The authors examine platform business strategies and their implications for working environment regulations, co-determination, and collective bargaining. Empirical data comprising 50 interviews with food delivery workers, platform managers, union representatives, employer association representatives, and occupational health and safety regulators from the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority were analyzed by applying institutional complexity as a theoretical framework. The findings illustrate that a high degree of institutional complexity provides companies with discretionary space, which they utilize to achieve legitimacy and competitive advantages. The authors introduce the term institutional opportunism to describe how adaptation is performed. The study reveals that the platform economy, characterized by workers with limited experience of and knowledge about working life and strong market pressures, poses a challenge to the NWLM.
... Nevertheless, in the evolving landscape of the gig economy, these structures are gradually becoming obsolete, replaced by flatter, hybrid, or matrix-type arrangements. Consequently, it remains uncertain to what extent the premises about organisational management covered by the NSPs apply to these new and emerging business structures (e.g., Hopkins, 2019;Monteiro et al., 2020aMonteiro et al., , 2020bNilsen et al., 2022). ...
Article
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Newly emerged concepts in safety and risk management, hereafter collectively named as new safety paradigms (NSPs), have challenged established practices and invite stakeholders to view their roles and safety initiatives from different angles. This article presents a critical commentary about various NSPs based on the combination of the concepts introduced in thirteen authoritative books and various peer-reviewed articles, including conceptual and opinion articles and scoping and systematic literature review papers. Our review suggests that NSPs predominantly present principles about effective organisational management with safety serving mainly as a proxy for organisational change rather than being the exclusive area of focus. Besides a few contradictions, most NSPs rely on generalisations and assumptions that can be invalid in the reality of dynamic and diverse organisational contexts. Further, most NSPs lack visible connections with more technical safety-related areas (e.g., process and fire safety), and they often reduce safety and human factors to an organisational psychology discipline. Nonetheless , this commentary does not discourage considering NSPs, as traditional safety management practices have also practical and scientific limitations. Rather, implementing NSP principles could offer valuable insights into improving organisational aspects, benefiting safety amongst other areas. However, the industry must refrain from approaching these paradigms as universally applicable solutions and deterministically. By recognising the limitations and nuances of any traditional or new paradigm, organisations could yield meaningful benefits while maintaining a holistic perspective on safety as a multidimensional field.
... This has implications for general well-being at work, but also for safety in work execution. For example, Nilsen et al. (2020;2022) discuss this app-driven efficiency pressure in the light of Rasmussen's (1997Rasmussen's ( : p. 1990) drift-to-danger model, suggesting that the pressure for efficiency is poorly countered by safety measures that are found within traditional organisations, possibly leading to a drift towards unsafe situations and unacceptable workloads. While some of these counter-gradients may be recognised organisational safety measures, such as OHS training, also more general organisational traits such as the development of communities of practice, general professional training and a collective identity as well as more general medical and social support services can also counteract the efficiency pressure and the detrimental effects it might have on health and safety. ...
Chapter
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In this chapter, I propose the following argument: the organisational landscape of today has and is currently going through changes that can be described as different forms of fragmentation. This has consequences for organisational theory, the ways work is described, coordinated and governed, and in turn, it influences safety theory and practice. By discussing three different stereotyped “stages” in this fragmentation, I will demonstrate how current organisational changes influence work practice and safety management, and I will argue that we need to understand the boundaries through which work and safety are managed and the role of information infrastructures in these processes.
... Future research should also consider taking systems thinking approach to understand holistically the issues of gig work (e.g., Nilsen et al., 2022). Systems thinking approaches are applied within safety science to help understand and improve safety in complex systems; in this context, gig work within the road transport system. ...
Article
A critical but often overlooked road safety concern is gender differences in road safety issues. The limited investigations have reported gender differences in road safety issues such as traffic accident rates and crash injuries. An emerging road safety issue is the safety of gig workers. Despite the exponential growth of the gig economy, little is known about road safety issues faced by gig workers, including gender‐specific road safety issues. The present study aimed to investigate whether there are gender differences in gig workers' involvement in road safety incidents and the likelihood of reporting incidents when gig working. Gig workers who provide, or have provided, ride‐hailing, courier, and food delivery services via digital platforms in Australia were invited to participate in an online survey on their involvement in road safety incidents and the likelihood that they would report road and personal safety incidents when gig working. Data from 71 gig workers (35 female gig workers; 36 male gig workers) were reported in the study. No gender differences were found in their involvement in road safety incidents and the likelihood of reporting road and personal safety incidents when gig working. Despite the lack of gender differences observed, findings from the study contributed to the research field and to closing the gender data gap. A research agenda is proposed for further data collection in gig work using a systems thinking approach to better our understanding of factors influencing the gendered participation in the gig workforce, and the health, safety, and wellbeing of gig workers.
... PMW is the pinnacle of Weil's fissured workplace (Weil, 2019), where labor and capital reorganization delimits the number of workers within the organization's confines and responsibilities (Collier et al., 2017). The dissolving boundaries of the organization and individualization of work will have consequences on health, safety, and well-being (Nilsen et al., 2022), but possibly to varying degrees. Recognizing these developments, we contend that personal and contextual contingencies become all the more important in considering their role in HSW. ...
Article
Platform-mediated work (PMW) is an emerging way of organizing work, potentially challenging a sustainable working life. Still, PMW is relatively underexplored within safety science research. This comparative study examines two radically different platforms – food delivery and ICT-related consulting – to identify features of platform-mediated work that have implications for health, safety, and well-being (HSW) and developing a sustainable working life. Based on the Job Demands-Resources perspective, 35 interviews and observations of three digital communities, we identify two factors influencing demands and resources in platform work. The study illustrates the variety in PMW and how personal and contextual factors can moderate adverse consequences. Strategies for aligning PMW to sustainability are proposed.
... The issues raised by Cheng and colleagues are developed further by Nilsen et al. (2022), who explore a rapidly growing means of employment, "Platform mediated work" (PMW), which relates to workers selling labour through digital platforms. In an interview study, Nilsen and colleagues apply sociotechnical systems thinking to examine goal conflicts arising from work contexts where the traditional employeremployee relationships are transformed into fragmented two-sided marketplaces for clients and platform workers selling labour. ...
... The mode of communication between the platform company and workers via an app is a barrier to explanations for decisions, which can lead workers to believe they are being ignored, mistrusted, treated unfairly, or insufficiently valued [35,45,53]. Platform workers are often physically separated from each other and from their supervisors, and the absence of opportunities to engage directly and dialogically through the apps with supervisors or other workers to exchange information, engage in formal or informal training activities, and build a shared safety culture can lead workers to feel isolated [20,54]. The apps can encourage competition among workers to "win" desirable jobs, which reduces cooperation and amplifies the sense of isolation [55]. ...
... The occupational health research that has been conducted on food delivery work has focused mostly on safety issues and injury rates. Platform workers who perform physically strenuous work such as food delivery face occupational hazards similar to those of conventional employees doing the same type of work [54,60]. Food delivery is inherently risky as it involves the possibility of accidents, especially at night or in inclement weather, and the challenges that can arise when entering homes and interacting with different unknown individuals. ...
... For example, pressure to increase earnings and app-related pressures to make delivery targets can cause increased work pace and long work hours. This, in turn, can cause workers to cut corners, forego basic health and safety protections, and increase fatigue and other risk factors for work-related injuries [54]. For example, a survey of platform delivery workers in Ho Chi Minh City during the COVID-19 pandemic found that longer work hours, a larger geographic area to cover, and pressure to perform led riders to take fewer precautions, such as sanitizing their hands, wearing masks, and riding carefully [36]. ...
Article
Full-text available
Algorithms are increasingly used instead of humans to perform core management functions, yet public health research on the implications of this phenomenon for worker health and well-being has not kept pace with these changing work arrangements. Algorithmic management has the potential to influence several dimensions of job quality with known links to worker health, including workload, income security, task significance, schedule stability, socioemotional rewards, interpersonal relations, decision authority, and organizational trust. To describe the ways algorithmic management may influence workers’ health, this review summarizes available literature from public health, sociology, management science, and human-computer interaction studies, highlighting the dimensions of job quality associated with work stress and occupational safety. We focus on the example of work for platform-based food and grocery delivery companies; these businesses are growing rapidly worldwide and their effects on workers and policies to address those effects have received significant attention. We conclude with a discussion of research challenges and needs, with the goal of understanding and addressing the effects of this increasingly used technology on worker health and health equity.
... Similarly, others have noted that, while platforms promise flexibility and autonomy, the work actually involves unpredictability, work intensification, and financial hardship. 18,19 Nielsen et al. 20 found that safety systems for platform workers were weak or absent. ...
Article
Full-text available
Introduction: As they deliver food, packages, and people across cities, digital platform drivers (gig workers) are in a key position to become infected with COVID-19 and transmit it to many others. The aim of this study is to identify perceived COVID-19 exposure and job risks faced by workers and document the measures in place to protect their health, and how workers responded to these measures. Methods: In 2020-2021, in-depth interviews were conducted in Ontario, Canada, with 33 digital platform drivers and managers across nine platforms that delivered food, packages, or people. Interviews focused on perceived COVID-19 risks and mitigation strategies. Audio recordings were transcribed verbatim and uploaded to NVivo software for coding by varied dual pairs of researchers. A Stakeholder Advisory Committee played an instrumental role in the study. Results: As self-employed workers were without the protection of employment and occupational health standards, platform workers absorbed most of the occupational risks related to COVID-19. Despite safety measures (e.g., contactless delivery) and financial support for COVID-19 illnesses introduced by platform companies, perceived COVID-19 risks remained high because of platform-related work pressures, including rating systems. We identify five key COVID-19 related risks faced by the digital platform drivers. Conclusion: We situate platform drivers within the broad context of precarious employment and recommend organizational- and government-level interventions to prevent digital platform worker COVID-19 risks and to assist workers ill with COVID-19. Measures to protect the health of platform workers would benefit public health aims by reducing transmission by drivers to families, customers, and consequently, the greater population.