A stubborn stain? Occupational safety and health on cleaning platforms in Norway

Throughout the past decade, a new form of work has emerged in the Nordic labour markets, in which isolated jobs are coordinated and distributed through digital platforms, commonly referred to as “platform work” (Valestrand and Oppegaard, 2022). So far, most research studies concerning platform work have focused on occupational groups like food couriers and taxi drivers operating for companies like Uber and Foodora. However, platforms are also emerging in the cleaning industry, although they have received comparably little attention (Wiesböck et al., 2023). Most cleaners who work for platform companies provide cleaning services in private households, and as most platform workers are self-employed, they generally work alone. Unlike food couriers and taxi drivers, these cleaners are therefore rarely noticeable on the streets (see Seppänen, Chapter 6). Thus, cleaners who work through digital platforms represent a spatially fragmented group, which poses challenges for trade unions and supervisory authorities, as well as for researchers who try to reach them (Wiesböck et al., 2023). These challenges are reflected in the insufficient data available concerning this occupational group.