Digital Platforms and the Impact on Workers' Health
Few hours of sleep, high blood pressure and accidents at work mark the routine of digital delivery workers.
The Dossier on human rights violations in uberized work: the case of motorcycle couriers in the city of Campinas was a survey carried out by Unicamp's Human Rights Executive Board, as a result of a Health Action, carried out by the University's Task Force against Covid-19, in January 2021.
The study identified precarious working and health conditions among delivery workers in Campinas and the surrounding area, which resulted in the organization, in 2023, of a survey on the subject involving 200 delivery workers from the region.
The results point to a deterioration in the health of delivery workers, associated with working conditions on digital delivery platforms. The dossier states:
- very high rates of traffic accidents at work;
- high rates of high blood pressure among workers;
- few hours of sleep and no rest days; and
- dehydration, associated with the lack of basic infrastructure at work, etc.
Among the 198 workers assessed, 44% had changes in blood pressure (equal to or greater than 140 and/or 90 mm Hg). The expected rate among the Brazilian adult population, according to the Brazilian Hypertension Guidelines, is 22.8%. Of the 20 women who took part in the survey, 35% had altered blood pressure and, among the 178 men, 44.9%.
With regard to workers' sleep, the survey found that 23.1% slept no more than five hours a day, 41.2% up to six hours and 69.3% no more than seven hours.
The data on accidents is alarming: 65.7% said they had already had a motorcycle accident while at work and 42% had to take time off work for this reason. In the latter group, 45% were off work for more than three months and 24% for more than six months.
