Context

• New forms of work are arising from and responding to labor market/economic forces, technological changes, and demographic changes

• New forms have implications for and impact on the H&S of workers

• Although the hazards faced may be well understood, the preventive approaches may require adaptive strategies that respond specifically to the new and complex employment relationships.

• We need to understand how best to apply the current laws to these situations.

“New” and growing forms of work, work structure, employment relationships

• Complex contracting and sub-contracting• “Independent contractors” • Franchising• Staffing agency-provided employment

– Short term/temporary– Long term

• Independent providers of home-based services (home health, childcare)

• Micro-enterprises, increase in very small enterprises• “gig” workers (tech enabled)—e.g., Uber, Taskrabbit,

Mechanical Turk (on line platforms to enable work)

New forms, continued

• Mixed status and multiple employment situations (see above forms)

• “Self-managed” employees: more and more in the public sector—managers are not present and supervising; home-based and telework

• “Guest workers”• “Volunteers” and unpaid “interns”

Consequences of new work forms• Some hazards, exposures, and risks are intensified by the new work

arrangements– Increased exposure to stress– Cognitive load intensification

• There may be an “externalization” of the consequences of these risks to the society as a whole or the families of injured and ill workers.

• Defining the employer and other responsible parties in some complex forms is challenging

• New work forms may be outside of the traditional “control” (training, oversight) systems or more difficult to bring into the traditional protection structures—challenges to all parties

• Creation of uncertainty as to who IS responsible• Challenge to adjust existing legal structures to assure worker protection

First principles, starting points• No matter the structure, workers have the right to the protection of

health and safety at work• Employers have the primary responsibility to provide a healthy and

safe workplace• No party should be able to avoid or escape responsibilities • Effective prevention requires management commitment and active

worker involvement.• The importance of pursuing prevention of disease and injury from

work• Health and safety of workers is also good for enterprises

– But the consequences of ill health may be borne by society• Issues such as workload, stress, psychosocial threats need to be

addressed no matter what the work form

First principle or strategy?

• There may be a need to develop new laws or regulations or adapt existing laws to address the challenges of the new employment relationships.

• All social partners need to work to address the consequences of “new” work forms and employment relationships.

• Labor inspectorate has a key role in assuring protections.

Challenges & problems & Needs

• DATA: – We are lacking basic data to the extent to which new structures

are in place and trends over time– Current data systems are not set up to capture illnesses and

injuries that result from the new relationships– We lack efficient health surveillance systems (for new forms

and old forms as well)• Lacking understanding of “Good” and “Best” practices to

respond to the H&S needs of workers in these employment relationships– There may be non-traditional approaches relevant to improving

the health, safety, and wellbeing of workers

Challenges/Opportunities

• How to implement known and proven strategies for prevention to protection of workers in these new work forms.

• Workplaces are “fragmented” and workers dispersed making communication and participation in preventive actions difficult.

• Opportunity to develop “consensus” standards (developed through social dialogue) to better protect workers in a way that can be enforced by the labor inspectorate.

Opportunities for joint communication and work

• Cooperation between US & EU to identify “severe violators” among multinational companies.

• Aging workforce is of growing importance in both the EU-US. Opportunity to share information and strategies to respond to this.

• Identify and produce a joint document on a specific topic (e.g., lone workers providing services in the home of others)

• Explore development and communication of meaningful, useful joint data bases

Opportunities for Joint Work and Communication

• Given growing globalization and the close economic relationships between the EU and US, should redouble efforts to assure communication about worker health and safety within this context.

• Collaborate on how education can be used to respond and prepare for the ongoing changes in work and employment relationships.

Research needs & Opportunities

• Improving understanding how labor protection regulations and strategies and enforcement might affect the protection of workers in the new forms of work.

• Evaluation of the impact of new forms of work on the health, safety of workers.