Examining gender differences in gig worker safety

Jolene A Cox; Gemma Read; Grant Butler; Paul Salmon

doi:10.1002/hfm.21007

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Examining gender differences in gig worker safety

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Examining gender differences in gig worker safety

Jolene A Cox, Gemma Read, Grant Butler and Paul Salmon

Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries, Vol.34(1), pp.3-15

2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/hfm.21007

Appears in UniSC Diversity and Inclusion Research Collection

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Abstract

digital platform

gender

gig economy

gig work

incident reporting

safety

UniSC Diversity Area - Gender Equity

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.

Details

Title: Examining gender differences in gig worker safety
Authors: Jolene A Cox (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Centre for Human Factors and Systems Science
Gemma Read (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Health - Psychology
Grant Butler (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Centre for Human Factors and Systems Science
Paul Salmon (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Centre for Human Factors and Systems Science
Publication details: Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries, Vol.34(1), pp.3-15
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Date published: 2024
DOI: 10.1002/hfm.21007
ISSN: 1520-6564; 2157-4650
Copyright note: © 2023 The Authors. Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
Grant note: Australian Government Office of Road Safety under the Road Safety Innovation Fund program.
Organisation Unit: Centre for Human Factors and Systems Science; School of Health - Psychology
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99742998902621
Output Type: Journal article