Regulating Health and Safety in Work for Digital Labor Platforms in Australia: The Example of Food Deliverers

In Australia, as in other countries, engaging workers through digital labor platforms is a significant and growing trend in the labor market. At least 100 platforms operate in diverse industry sectors spanning food, transportation, professional, writing and translation, clerical, data entry, creative and multimedia services, as well as work in software development, sales and marketing, c a r i n g , s k i l l e d t r a d e s , o d d j o b s a n d maintenance (James 2020, 32–34). Around 7.1 percent of respondents (aged 18 to 74) to a national, representative survey had participated in platform mediated work in the 12 months prior to the survey, and 13.1 percent had done platform work at some time (McDonald et al. 2019, 3). Individuals often work across platforms and combine platform work in a “portfolio” of subcontracting or wage and salary jobs, with the income earned from platform work largely supplementing their other earnings (James 2020, 26–27).