Economic pressure (subcontracting, unrealistic targets, precarity, low pay and performance-based/piece rate pay systems, cost-cutting) has a direct impact on workers’ safety and health. Research on supply chains and complex contracting relationships links these pressures to safety and health risks including high injury rates, musculoskeletal disorders, disease exposure, and poor mental health due to fatigue and stress.
In road transport, where the ‘workplace’ is shared by other road users, these pressures have a direct relationship to public safety. Incentive-based pay, cost-cutting and time pressures are passed on from transport buyers through transport suppliers onto workers, resulting in dangerous on-road behaviours with devastating impacts for the public at large. Similar pressures exist for drivers in the gig economy.
