The health of platform-based food delivery workers in France

Abstract Background In high-income countries, platform-based delivery workers, among whom immigrants are over-represented, are particularly exposed to occupational risks. Although this exposure seems to be even higher among undocumented immigrant workers, there is little data to document this social and public health issue. Methods The SANTE-COURSE participatory research project, conducted with community-based organizations (Maison des Coursiers, Maison des Livreurs, Médecins du Monde), aims to assess the exposure to occupational risks among gig delivery workers in Paris and Bordeaux, France. These risks include work-related accidents, psychosocial risks, musculoskeletal disorders, urogenital problems, as well as exposure to discrimination and violence. Data are collected through face-to-face questionnaires between January and May 2025, via an outreach approach. We further investigate the determinants of occupational risk using multivariate regressions. Results Preliminary results on a sub-sample of 729 individuals show that this population is overexposed to occupational hazards. As an example, 55.4% of delivery riders had a work accident, and 41.5% have symptoms of moderate to severe depression. In the meantime, they suffer from a great lack of access to social protection, especially health coverage: 30.8% lack health insurance coverage, and an overwhelming majority of 95.8% reported that they are not protected by insurance provided by the platform in the event of an on-the-job accident. Conclusions Our findings will help construct an intervention to prevent occupational risks among gig delivery workers and moderate their financial impacts by improving access to health coverage. This contribution will also provide a better understanding of the construction of social inequalities in health in the context of worsening working conditions and the rise of the platform economy, with the emerging social category of “uberized” workers. Key messages • Gig delivery workers in France are over-exposed to occupational hazards and have severely limited access to health insurance. • Our findings strongly indicate the necessity of implementing community-based occupational health interventions among platform-based delivery riders.