The latest report of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) highlights the uncertain future facing workers, with advances in technology, climate change and adaptations to ways of working potentially posing risks to people’s health, safety and wellbeing.
The report Towards a safe and healthy future of work was published jointly with sustainable development experts Arup, and it looks at how the world of work is set to change in the coming years. With an estimated 7,500 people dying every day from unsafe or unhealthy working conditions, the report poses a number of “what-if” questions designed to highlight to governments, businesses and the health and safety profession that IOSH represents how action is required to ensure people are protected in and out of work.
The rise of the gig economy, which includes platform-based work ranging from delivery work to freelance tasks on specific projects, is highlighted, with a question posed on whether it could actually overtake secure employment as the most common source of primary income, leading to fewer social protections for workers. It goes on to say that decades-old primary legislation based on traditional employment models doesn’t address many health and safety risks associated with gig work.