When the profits race derails health: management via artificial intelligence of platforms such as Uber Eats or Deliveroo, pose risks on the health of home meal deliveryers, alerts a health agency which wants to make the protection of their health and their safety compulsory.
Accidents, psychosocial risks, air pollution … ANSES has examined the working conditions of two-wheelers and their exhibitions for its opinion of “risk assessment linked to the activity of delivery platforms for home meals” made on Wednesday.
Seized by the CGT four years ago, she looked at the forms of work created by these platforms.
To “optimize their economic performance”, an artificial intelligence attributes deliveries “without direct human interaction”, describes the agency, delivering an unprecedented panorama of a “organization of risk work” for the health of the more than 71,000 independent deliverers in France, the vast majority of meal deliveryers, according to the sector regulatory authority (ARPE).
“Evaluation of services by consumers, changes in remuneration methods, racing rules” and even “sanctions”: everything is managed by automated processes, with physical and mental health problems, in the short, medium and long term.
“With this use of digital technologies to allocate work tasks, assess them, monitor workers’ performance, sanction them, deliverers have no room for maneuver, possible negotiation, or support for a natural person who could respond to the difficulties encountered in the field,” describes Henri Bastos, scientific director health and work at ANSES.
The result of road accidents, falls, musculoskeletal disorders and damage to mental health: “Stress, fatigue, exhaustion linked to the constant pressure of notifications, isolation and the absence of stable professional relationships”.
Platform delivery people also suffer from sleep disorders, metabolic, respiratory or cardiovascular diseases linked to the activity carried out in atypical times, in a difficult working environment: urban pollution, noise …
“Insufficient protection”
“There are also socio-family consequences: to ensure a decent standard of living, delivery people will accept a large number of races and therefore have significant schedules, sometimes work 7 days a week,” notes Henri Bastos.
These “strategies, called-auto-acceleration-consist in trying to anticipate the decisions taken by the algorithm to meet its requirements, therefore to intensify the pace of work: they lead to a physical and mental exhaustion, and can increase accidents on the road”, he details.
However, mostly independent, these workers do not benefit “neither from an adequate risk prevention policy, nor from sufficient social protection”, underlines the agency. There is no obligation to declare their accidents at work.
In addition, the regulatory context of this activity is under construction.
On a French scale, where an agreement between platforms and unions setting a minimum time hourly income has recently been signed, and European, the Member States having two years to integrate into their legislation the November 2024 directive strengthening the rights of these workers.
Requalify as employees some of the 30 million deliverers
This text plans to requalify as employees some of the 30 million deliverers working under the status of independent in Europe. The procedures for requalification depend on the states, which allows ANSES to formulate recommendations.
The Agency thus recommends that public authorities make compulsory, for these workers, the application of health and safety provisions provided for employees in the Labor Code and to impose “a limitation and control of their working time”.
ANSES “calls for empowerment of platforms, so that they ensure the protection of the health and safety of these workers”, that they “provide the necessary equipment (gloves, helmets …) and training on road safety, health and safety at work,” summarizes Mr. Bastos.
Finally, the health agency wants to make data collection compulsory to continue to document the effects of this work organization.