Recital 50

Council Directive 89/391/EEC ⁽¹³⁾ introduces measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work, including the obligation for employers to assess the occupational health and safety risks and lays down general principles of prevention that employers are to implement. Automated monitoring systems and automated decision-making systems potentially have significant impact on the safety and on the physical and mental health of platform workers. Algorithmic direction, evaluation, and discipline intensify work effort by increasing monitoring, raising the pace required from workers, minimising gaps in workflow, and extending work activity beyond the conventional workplace and working hours. The limited learning at work and the limited influence over tasks due to the use of non-transparent algorithms, work intensification and insecurity derived from the use of automated monitoring systems or automated decision-making systems are likely to increase workforce’s stress and anxiety. Therefore, digital labour platforms should evaluate those risks, assess whether the safeguards of the systems are appropriate to address those risks and take appropriate preventive and protective measures. They should avoid that the use of such systems results in undue pressure on workers or puts their health at risk. In order to strengthen the effectiveness of those provisions, the digital labour platform should make their risk evaluation and the assessment of the mitigating measures available to platform workers, their representatives and the competent authorities.