Health and Safety Issues for Workers in Nonstandard Employment
Health and Safety Issues for Workers in Nonstandard Employment
- Emily Q. Ahonen, Emily Q. AhonenDepartment of Environmental Health Science & Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Indiana University
- Sherry L. Baron, Sherry L. BaronDepartment of Urban Studies ( Barry Commoner Center for Health and the Environment), Queens College and Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, City University of New York
- Lisa M. BrosseauLisa M. BrosseauDepartment of of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago
- , and Alejandra VivesAlejandra VivesDepartment of Public Health, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Summary
Standard employment arrangements—where the relationship between employers and employees is clear and employment is full-time, understood to be lasting, and with full protections—coexist with nonstandard employment (NSE) relationships. A variety of terms have been used to describe specific types of NSE including temporary, contingent, contract, freelance, on-call, gig, and app-based employment. These forms of employment, in combination with larger social and economic forces, structural power dynamics, and advances in technology, can work together to limit the ways in which employment supports health, and undermine workplace health protections. Nonstandard employment brings with it particular concerns for health and safety related to work, and in a broader public health sense. Health can be protected in NSE through intervention at national, state and province, and local levels to proactively shape the quality of employment arrangements.
Keywords
Subjects
- Environmental Health