How can online ride-hailing drivers who are trapped for a long time protect their health？
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Sitting for more than 10 hours a day, not being able to eat on time, not being able to use the toilet at any time, and driving with high brain tension, online ride-hailing drivers face a variety of occupational health risks. Due to the "cooperative relationship" with the platform, online ride-hailing drivers cannot obtain corresponding medical insurance on the platform.
"The mileage of the dashboard of the car is hundreds of kilometers every day, and the number of steps we walk is less than 1,000. It seems that we don’t have to work in the car every day, but in fact, after more than 10 hours a day, we are more tired than people who do other jobs," said the ride-hailing driver Xiang Feibian as he drove.
In 2015, Xiang Fei came to Beijing from Qinghai to become an online car-hailing driver. In order to increase the number of orders, he, like many online car-hailing drivers, goes out early and returns late every day, and works more than 10 hours. Online car-hailing is convenient for people to travel, but sitting for a long time every day, not being able to eat on time and using the toilet at any time bring many health risks to online car-hailing drivers.
Chen Baosheng, chief physician of the physical examination department of Peking University Shougang Hospital, said that online taxi drivers are sedentary in the cab for a long time, often put into work immediately after meals, and the brain is in a high state of tension when driving. It is easy to gain weight, blood pressure, blood lipids, etc. will rise, and metabolic diseases such as diabetes will also be caused by metabolic dysfunction. In addition, if you maintain a posture for a long time, the spine is not evenly stressed, and the driver is also prone to ligament and muscle damage.
Working overtime makes the health of online car-hailing drivers worry
At 10:30 p.m. on April 19, Qi Caijuan, who had finished her mission, returned to the downstairs of the community. She slowly opened the door, gently poked her legs out of the car, and walked out of the cab hunched over. "It’s an old problem," Qi Caijuan said. Every night when she finished work, her waist would not straighten up, and it would take a few minutes to walk normally.
Qi Caijuan is an online ride-hailing driver in Chengde, Hebei. At the age of 20 years, she has a hair problem. In addition to the pain in the waist, shoulders and neck caused by long-term sitting, Qi Caijuan also suffers from stomach problems due to the lack of argument for eating.
Although he has only been driving online for a few years, Xiang Fei has already suffered from a serious lumbar intervertebral disc herniation. He said that he had heard people say that online car-hailing drivers make a lot of money before, but after he started working, he knew that there was a lot of water on his account, but after deducting the oil money and car damage, he really didn’t get much. In the past two years, the number of online car-hailing drivers has increased, and the industry competition has intensified. In order to make more money, he drives almost 12 hours a day.
Xiang Fei used to put a headrest in the driver’s seat to keep the head and waist relatively comfortable, but in the past two years, the platform has required drivers to have a unified image, and they are not allowed to put personal items in the car. He can only remove these items. Xiang Fei said that because of the difficulty of parking, he rarely goes to the toilet, and many drivers also suffer from prostatitis.
According to a study conducted by Tsinghua University in 2021, the average daily working time of online car-hailing drivers in first-tier cities is 11.05 hours, and the average weekly travel time is 6.45 days. More than 80% of online car-hailing drivers spend more than 8 hours a day.
"If you have a new order, please take it in time." Wu Jiahong, the online taxi driver, took advantage of the absence of passengers and was ready to take a nap in the car. Before taking 10 minutes, the order notification sounded on her mobile phone. Wu Jiahong leaves the car on time at 7 o’clock every day, and sometimes it is already 12 o’clock in the evening when she returns home. On this day, she wanted to complete the task as soon as possible, so she did not turn off the order receiving system during the rest, but just started the car, a burst of cervical spine pain accompanied by a burst of dizziness suddenly hit, and she had to cancel the task and go home to rest.
Go to the hospital once and lose half a day’s income
Online car-hailing drivers belong to flexible employment. They have not signed an employment contract with the platform and have no social security. It has always been a dilemma for online car-hailing drivers to be solved. All along, Qi Caijuan has paid social insurance by herself as a flexible employer.
Although she often feels unwell, Qi Caijuan rarely goes to the hospital in order to take more orders. "It takes half a day to go once, and in addition to the money it costs to see a doctor, half a day of income is also gone." She said that when her stomach is uncomfortable, she goes to the community hospital to prescribe some stomach medicine and put it in the car for backup. When her shoulder and neck are really uncomfortable, she will go to the massage shop to press it, on average once every two months.
After resting at home for half a day, Wu Jiahong still felt stuffy in her chest, so she came to a hospital the next day in desperation. "I spent nearly 300 yuan in the morning, which is almost half of my water for half a day." Wu Jiahong told reporters that if she used medical insurance to settle, she would only need to pay half the money, but because the platform did not pay for her medical insurance, she did not renew her medical insurance after it expired, and could only pay in full.
On November 30 last year, the Ministry of Transport and other eight departments issued the "Opinions on Strengthening the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Employees in the New Business of Transportation", which proposed to encourage online car-hailing platform enterprises to actively participate in the pilot of occupational injury protection, and to urge online car-hailing platform enterprises to participate in social insurance for drivers who meet the conditions of labor relations in accordance with the law, and to guide and support drivers who do not fully meet the conditions of establishing labor relations to participate in corresponding social insurance.
Wu Jiahong told reporters that in order to increase her income, she often takes orders on multiple online ride-hailing platforms, but none of these platforms have signed employment contracts with them, which are only "cooperative relationships." She said that if there are platforms that can pay for social security and medical insurance, she is willing to run orders on one platform full-time.
"I hope the platform can provide free regular medical checkups"
After seven years of online car-hailing in Beijing, Xiang Fei recently participated in the free driver medical examination organized by the trade union system through the platform for the first time.
Xiang Fei is very satisfied with the inspection. He told reporters that the physical examination includes not only blood routine, liver and kidney function, full abdominal color ultrasound and other routine inspections, but also a special project for the driver’s prostate examination.
After the checkup, the hospital also held lectures on disease prevention, first aid and other aspects of occupational diseases for online ride-hailing drivers, and organized free clinics for online ride-hailing drivers. "I think it’s very useful, I learned a lot of knowledge, and I feel much more comfortable after shoulder and neck massage," Xiang Fei said, but he did not know when the next checkup would be.
As she gets older, Qi Caijuan has become more and more concerned about her physical condition. Since the platform has not yet provided free medical checkups to drivers, she has taken the initiative to check twice. "I hope the platform can provide free regular medical checkups, so that I can feel more at ease when working," Qi Caijuan said.
Chen Baosheng said that considering the professional characteristics of drivers, they should conduct more in-depth and comprehensive inspections of key parts such as the spine every three years or so in addition to the regular physical examination every year. Drivers themselves should also pay attention to their physical health and get out of the car as much as possible to do some stretching exercises.
The recent notice issued by Guangdong Province on further improving the work related to flexible employment personnel participating in basic medical insurance for employees pointed out that, including relying on new business platforms such as e-commerce, online car-hailing, online food delivery, and express logistics to achieve employment, and employees who have not established labor relations with new business platform enterprises can participate in basic medical insurance for employees at the place of employment in Guangdong Province without household registration restrictions. This measure will increase health protection for new employment forms such as online car-hailing drivers.