Literature review on health and safety in express delivery services

Status:

completed

Aims:

The express delivery services sector has grown considerably in importance in recent years. Changes in consumer behaviour, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, have led to rapid developments in the business model of "quick commerce" services. Workers in this sector are often exposed to high levels of physical and mental stress. Drivers and riders are under considerable pressure to deliver orders within the shortest possible time. Added to this are the risks of road traffic accidents, constant exposure to traffic noise, and physical stress caused by vibration, UV radiation and physically demanding tasks.

Despite growing awareness of the issue in the research community and among the wider public, a broad review of working conditions in the express delivery services sector had not previously been conducted.

In the project presented here, an exploratory literature review was therefore first conducted to identify the existing scientific and grey literature on the topic of safety and health among workers in express delivery services, and to obtain an initial overview of key areas (such as traffic behaviour and musculoskeletal stress). The findings of the review are to serve in the future as a basis for further research activities aimed at improving working conditions in express delivery services. These activities, which can be carried out with the involvement of the IFA and other parties, will focus on the areas in which the review identified a particular need for further research.

Activities/Methods:

Initially, a non-systematic literature search was conducted in national and international scientific databases using various synonyms of the term express delivery services (e.g. fast commerce, fast delivery). Based on these results, topics for which sufficient scientific literature existed were analysed in more detail. Additional search terms were used for specific stress factors (e.g. accident risks, physical/mental load) to narrow down the results more precisely. The search period was chosen to cover both current developments and longer-term trends.

The selection of literature was based on the PRISMA scheme. First, titles were screened to identify relevant publications. In a second step, a selection of publications was made on the basis of the abstracts, the full texts of which were reviewed and the results analysed and summarised. The literature was selected on the basis of predefined criteria. For example, only articles in German and English were included. In addition to peer-reviewed studies, grey literature was also included in the analysis to provide as complete a picture as possible of the current state of research. Publications on different types of vehicles (bicycle, moped, car) were included, while there was no restriction on the type of goods delivered (e.g. food, meals, pharmacy products).

The literature reviewed was grouped thematically to identify key areas of research. The results will be published nationally and internationally.

Results:

The review, initially unsystematic, yielded extensive results and was therefore followed by a systematic scoping review. 4,488 publications were identified in total, 143 of which were retained for review. Reasons for excluding studies included duplicates, an unsuitable population, and lack of relevance to safety and health. The majority of the studies included were of Asian (n = 79) and European (n = 37) origin. With regard to the types of vehicle used, studies involving riders of motorcycles (n = 78), conventional bicycles (n = 60) and pedelecs/e-bikes (n = 39) predominated. For data synthesis, the studies were assigned to 7 categories (assignment to multiple categories was permitted): road safety (n = 63), working conditions (n = 57), mental stress (n = 53), platform management and monitoring (n = 38), physical stress (n = 33), occupational safety and health (n = 23) and COVID-19 (n = 16).

The results show riders in express delivery services to be predominantly young and male, and often of migrant origin. Working conditions are characterised by long working hours and low, fluctuating incomes. Jobs are assigned algorithmically by apps, which also set performance metrics; the algorithmic process is however opaque to riders.

27 factors relating to mental stress were identified. Among these were time pressure, stressful interaction with customers and lack of job security. These factors are reflected in the frequency of incidence of stress, exhaustion and anxiety disorders. Extreme weather conditions, poor road conditions and exhaust fumes are among the causes of the physical stresses. As a result of the physical nature of the work, up to 75% of these workers report musculoskeletal disorders, particularly in the back (22–73%) and wrists (26–90%). The incidence of risky behaviour during riding, such as running red lights or using a smartphone, is also high.

The occupational safety and health issues include in many cases the inadequate provision and use of personal protective equipment. A safety culture that is already generally weak also makes implementation of protective measures more difficult. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing stresses, but at the same time demonstrated that platforms are, in principle, an effective means of communicating safety-related information.

Overall, the scoping review showed that riders in express delivery services are exposed to numerous physical and mental stresses which are primarily structural in nature. Although the working conditions are well documented, further research is required in the area of occupational safety and health and the analysis of physical stresses experienced by riders of conventional bicycles and e-bikes/pedelecs. To improve riders’ safety and health, prevention concepts conducted in several languages and focused upon the target groups are required, together with transparent working conditions and a stronger safety culture.

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