Purpose The GIG-OSH cohort was established to investigate the impact of digital platform work on occupational safety and health (OSH), working and employment conditions, and health in seven countries in Europe.

Participants The cohort comprises 3,945 digital platform workers from seven European countries. The sample includes both web-based workers (e.g., micro-tasking, freelance design) and on-location workers (e.g., delivery, transport). Participants were recruited using non-probabilistic sampling strategies tailored to national contexts, including social media advertising, recruitment through micro-task platforms, and on-site field outreach. Multidimensional data have been collected through online surveys (implemented via REDCap) covering sociodemographic characteristics, working and employment conditions, psychosocial risks, algorithmic management, and physical and mental health indicators.

Findings to date Participants had a mean age of 32.6 years at baseline (SD 10.4), and the majority are male (58.8%), with a higher concentration of migrants in on-location tasks (62.2%) compared to web-based tasks (48.8%). Regarding educational attainment, 55.4% of the total cohort holds a tertiary degree, reaching 64.4% among web-based workers. Platform work intensity varies significantly: on-location workers averaged 85.4 hours of work in the last month, while web-based workers averaged 47.0 hours. Mean income from platform work as a percentage of the national median was 20.6% (SD 22.2). The mean WHO-5 Well-Being Index score was 58.7 (SD 20.3), which is notably lower than the European general population average (69.4), indicating poorer mental health outcomes among cohort members.

Future plans The GIG-OSH cohort represents the first large-scale, longitudinal study examining occupational safety and health among digital platform workers across multiple European countries. Future waves will prioritize developing precise tools to measure hourly earnings and unpaid waiting time. Future research should aim to include underrepresented subgroups, such as medical and domestic care workers, and explore potential linkage with administrative records to evaluate long-term health trajectories and the impact of new EU labour regulations.

Strengths and limitations of this study

This is the first large-scale longitudinal cohort to examine occupational safety and health among platform workers across multiple European countries, addressing an important evidence gap.

The inclusion of both web-based and on-location workers enables comparative analyses across diverse task types, employment conditions, and national contexts.

Recruitment strategies tailored to national contexts enhanced feasibility but limited the representativeness of samples and precluded national-level weighting or benchmarking.

High attrition between waves and the absence of harmonized classifications (e.g., education levels) across countries may constrain the generalizability and longitudinal consistency of findings.

Despite relying on self-reported data, the study used stakeholder-informed instruments and captured a wide range of occupational hazards—such as psychosocial and algorithmic risks—not typically addressed in conventional labour surveys.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

This publication is part of the project GIG-OSH (CHANSE 848), funded by research institutions of each country and Collabouration of Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe (CHANSE) Cofund 2021 project through the PCI2022_2 call and the European Commission. Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain: PCI2022-134977-2 funded by MICIU/AEI 10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR. Hospital del Mar Research Institute, Spain: PCI2022-134969-2 funded by MICIU/AEI 10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR. Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium (Flanders): FWOAL1063 funded by The Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). Karolinska Institutet, Sweden: 2021-01642 funded by The Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare. Tampere University, Finland: 353889 funded by Research Council of Finland. FAOS, University of Copenhagen, Denmark: 0257-00006B-funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFE). IER, University of Warwick, The UK: e ES/X006301/1 funded by ESRC. Poland: the National Science Centre, Poland, under the CHANSE programme, which has received funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme [Transformations Social and Cultural Dynamics in the Digital Age.], under project UMO-2021/03/Y/HS6/00267.

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

The cohort was approved by the local research ethics committees, and participants signed an informed consent form prior to enrolment. Spain: Ethical approval was obtained from the Drug Research Ethics Committee (CEIm) of Hospital del Mar (reference number 2023/11095/I-). Sweden: Ethical permission was granted for the study by the Regional Ethics Board of Stockholm with no. 2023-02230-01. Belgium, Denmark, Finland and Poland also fell under this ethical approval of Sweden. The UK: Ethics approval was obtained from the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee (HSSREC), the University of Warwick (UoW) (ref.no. HSSREC 201/23-24). After the project started, the Danish data were managed from UoW and therefore also fall under UK ethics approval.

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

Yes

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

Yes

I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable.

Yes

All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors