Laws, Policies, and Collective Agreements Protecting Low-wage and Digital Platform Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this commentary describes and compares shifting employment and occupational health social protections of low-wage workers, including self-employed digital platform workers. Through a focus on eight advanced economy countries, this paper identifies how employment misclassification and definitions of employees were handled in law and policy. Debates about minimum wage and occupational health and safety standards as they relate to worker well-being are considered. Finally, we discuss promising changes introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic that protect the health of low-wage and self-employed workers. Overall, we describe an ongoing "haves" and a "have not" divide, with on the one extreme, traditional job arrangements with good work-and-health social protections and, on the other extreme, low-wage and self-employed digital platform workers who are mostly left out of schemes. However, during the pandemic small and often temporary gains occurred and are discussed.

Work-relatedness of mood disorders in Denmark.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the work-relatedness of mood disorders. METHODS: From 2001-2005, we followed up all economically active people in Denmark, aged 20-59 years as of January 2001, for hospital contact due to mood disorders. We calculated gender-stratified standardized incidence ratios (SIR) by industry. Using the distribution of the SIR values as input, we used a Monte Carlo simulation to estimate what proportion of the mood disorder cases could be regarded as work-related and denoted them as excess fractions. RESULTS: In total, we observed 10 731 cases of mood disorder among the women and 8305 among the men. There were four industries among women and 13 among men that showed elevated SIR with confidence intervals not including unity. The excess fractions without social group adjustment were 0.248 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.173-0.325] for the women and 0.363 (95% CI 0.294-0.433) for the men. The respective fractions with adjustment for social group were 0.233 (95% CI 0.162-0.303) and 0.361 (95% CI 0.293-0.430). CONCLUSION: A substantial proportion of mood disorders among working people can be regarded as work-related. Hence, the workplace is an interesting arena for primary interventions.

Work injuries and disability.

PROBLEM: This study estimated the hazard ratio for disability pension retirement (DPR) for persons who have experienced a work injury causing absence lasting at least one day after the accidental injury occurred and to estimate the fraction of DPR attributable to work injuries. METHODS: A total of 4,217 male and 4,105 female employees from a national survey were followed up for subsequent DPR. RESULTS AND IMPACT ON INDUSTRY AND GOVERNMENT: Having had a work injury was a strong predictor of DPR among men. After control for age, smoking, body mass index, body postures, and physical demands, the hazard ratio (HR) among those employees who had ever experienced a work injury was 1.80 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.20-2.68). No association was found among women. SUMMARY: Having had a reportable work injury is a strong predictor of subsequent DPR for men.

Prioritizing occupational injury prevention in the construction industry: injury severity or absence?

PROBLEM: National occupational injury prevention goals often prioritize the reduction of serious injuries. This study analyzed whether this prioritization is credible in respect to lost-time injuries and short and long term work absence, and the implications this has for injury severity-based versus injury absence-based prevention approaches. METHOD: The data consisted of national and work-site specific injury and absence data from construction workers in Denmark, including workers from the Copenhagen Metro construction sites, during the period 2000-2001. RESULTS AND IMPACT ON INDUSTRY AND GOVERNMENT: Absence length was significantly dependent on the type of injury. Sprains and strains were most prevalent and accounted for approximately one third of injuries and absence. Fractures accounted for one sixth of injuries and the greatest proportion of long-term absence. The results give credibility to the need for targeting sprains and strains in injury and absence prevention initiatives.