Participant Information Leaflet
for UK Gig Workers

Study Title:	New challenges for occupational safety and health in times of the digital transformation in Europe: the role of digital labour platforms (GIG OSH)
Investigator(s):	Trine Larsen, Chris Warhurst, Jamelia Harris. Beate Baldauf (Warwick Institute for Employment Research)

Introduction 

You are invited to take part in a research study. Before you decide, you need to understand why the research is being done and what it would involve for you. Please take the time to read the following information carefully. Talk to others about the study if you wish.

Please ask us if there is anything that is not clear or if you would like more information. Take time to decide whether or not you wish to take part.

A downloadable version of this information leaflet is available here.

Who is organising and funding the study?

The study is funded via CHANSE, the Collaboration of Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe, and the UK’s Research Funding Council (UKRI). The study is being led by Karolinska Institutet (KI) in Sweden. Professor Trine Larsen leads the UK part of the study.

What is the study about?

This study aims to investigate the work environment and health related to digital platform work to promote a safe and healthy work environment for digital platform workers in Europe. In this project we will work with surveys and interviews with digital platform workers, managers, labour inspectors, and union representatives residing in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.

What would taking part involve?

This part of the study involves interviews with gig workers lasting about 50-60 minutes and a follow up interview at a later point, if you agree to it. We are keen to learn more about how you came to embark on platform work, your employment and working conditions, aspects of occupational health and safety and your future plans for work.

The interview will be audio-recorded if you consent. Otherwise, the researcher will take notes during the interview.

Do I have to take part?

No. Participation in this study is completely voluntary and choosing not to take part will not affect you in any way. You can also choose to withdraw your participation without giving a reason by contacting one of the research team, up to a certain point. Further details about withdrawing from the study are provided later on in this document.

What are the possible benefits of taking part in this study?

The knowledge gained from the project can provide new guidance for decision-makers, companies, and trade unions to protect the health of the European workforce.

What are the possible disadvantages, side effects or risks, of taking part in this study?

Participating in this study carries minimal risk for you. Some questions may be uncomfortable to answer, but you have the option to skip those questions and continue in the study or withdraw from participation at any time without any consequences for you.

Expenses and payments

We offer a £15 online shop voucher for taking part in each interview.

Will my taking part be kept confidential?

We will not report your name or anything that would make you personally identifiable in any outputs from the research and all best endeavours will be made to ensure that data in any publications is anonymised. All participants will be given a pseudonym for the purposes of reporting, and any identifying information will be removed to ensure confidentiality.

What will happen to the data collected about me?

As a publicly-funded organisation, The University of Warwick have to ensure that it is in the public interest when we use personally-identifiable information from people who have agreed to take part in research. This means that when you agree to take part in a research study, such as this, we will use your data in the ways needed to conduct and analyse the research study.

We will be using information from you in order to undertake this study. For the purpose of data protection legislation, The University of Warwick is the data controller for this project. The University of Warwick is committed to protecting the rights of individuals in line with data protection legislation. The University of Warwick will keep information about you for ten years after the study has finished. However, your contact details and audio-recordings will be safely deleted at the end of the project.

Research data will be pseudonymised as quickly as possible after data collection. This means all direct and indirect identifiers will be removed from the research data and will be replaced with a key which will be stored separately and securely to the research data to safeguard your identity.

Your rights to access, change or move your information are limited, as we need to manage your information in specific ways in order for the research to be reliable and accurate. The University of Warwick has in place policies and procedures to keep your data safe.

This data may also be used for future research, including impact activities following review and approval by an independent Research Ethics Committee and subject to your consent at the outset of this research project.

For further information, please refer to The University of Warwick Research Privacy Notice which is available here: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/idc/dataprotection/privacynotices/researchprivacynoticeor by contacting the Legal and Compliance Team at GDPR@warwick.ac.uk.

What will happen if I don’t want to carry on being part of the study?

Participation in this study is entirely voluntary.Refusal to participate will not affect you in any way. If you agree to participate, you may nevertheless withdraw from the study at any time without affecting you in any way. You have the right to withdraw from the study completely and decline any further contact by study staff after you withdraw.

Please also note that it will not be possible to withdraw your interview data two weeks after the interview has been held as data analysis of pseudonymised will already have started.

To withdraw your data please contact the researcher who has conducted the interview or Beate Baldauf (B.Baldauf@warwick.ac.uk). 

What will happen to the results of the study?

The results of the study will be regularly published in international scientific journals, primarily in English. We will announce this through the project's social media channels: @gig_osh (twitter account) and via the project webpage: http://www.gigosh.com/

Who has reviewed the study?

This study has been reviewed and given favourable opinion by the Karolinska Institutet (KI) in Sweden and has also been approved by the University of Warwick’s Humanities and Social Science Research Ethics Committee (HSSREC): HSSREC 186/22-23.

Who should I contact if I want further information?

Beate Baldauf (lead for the interviews with gig workers): B.Baldauf@warwick.ac.uk or Trine Larsen (UK study lead): Trine.Larsen@warwick.ac.uk

Who should I contact if I wish to make a complaint?

Any complaint about the way you have been dealt with during the study or any possible harm you might have suffered will be addressed. Please address your complaint to the person below, who is a senior University of Warwick official entirely independent of this study:

Head of Research Governance

Research & Impact Services

University House

University of Warwick

Coventry

CV4 8UW

Email: researchgovernance@warwick.ac.uk

Tel: 02476 575733

If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer who will investigate the matter: .

If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal data in a way that is not lawful you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Thank you for taking the time to read this Participant Information Leaflet.