Original title: Being "locked" in the driver's seat for more than 10 hours a day, online ride-hailing drivers face a variety of health risks, and some hope that the platform can provide free physical examinations on a regular basis
How can ride-hailing drivers who are trapped in a long period of time protect their health?
Sitting for more than 10 hours a day, not being able to eat on time, not being able to go to the toilet at any time, and driving with a highly nervous brain, e-hailing drivers face a variety of occupational health risks. Since the relationship with the platform is only a "cooperative relationship", online ride-hailing drivers cannot obtain corresponding medical protection on the platform.
"Every day, the car dashboard travels hundreds of kilometers, and the number of walking steps is less than 1,000 steps. It seems that we sit in the car every day without working, but in fact, more than 10 hours a day, more tired than other people who do other work. The ride-hailing driver said as he drove to the edge of the car.
In 2015, Xiang Fei came to Beijing from Qinghai and became an online ride-hailing driver. In order to increase the number of orders, like many online ride-hailing drivers, he went out early and returned late every day, and it was common for him to work for more than 10 hours. Ride-hailing is convenient for people to travel, but sitting for a long time every day, not being able to eat on time and going to the toilet at any time bring many health risks to e-hailing drivers.
Chen Baosheng, chief physician of the Physical Examination Department of Peking University Shougang Hospital, said that online ride-hailing drivers sit in the cab for a long time, often put into work immediately after meals, and the brain is in a highly tense state when driving, it is easy to gain weight, blood pressure, blood lipids, etc. are increased, and metabolic diseases such as diabetes are caused by metabolic dysfunction. In addition, maintaining a posture for a long time, the force of the spine is uneven, and the driver is also prone to ligament and muscle damage.
Overtime work has made the health of ride-hailing drivers worrying
At 10:30 p.m. on April 19, Qi Caijuan, who had finished her car assignment, returned to the downstairs of the community, slowly opened the car door, gently probed her legs out of the car, and walked out of the cab with her body bent over. "Old problems," Qi Caijuan said, every night at the end of work, the waist will not be straight, to slow down for a few minutes to move around normally.
Qi Caijuan is an online ride-hailing driver in Chengde, Hebei Province, and she has a problem with her 20 years of driving. 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 eating regardless of the point.
Although he had just driven a ride-hailing car for a few years, Xiang Fei was already suffering from a severe lumbar disc herniation. He said that he had heard that online car drivers made a lot of money before, and after he engaged in it, he knew that the flow on the account was quite a lot, but he did not really get much of the oil money and car damage. In the past two years, the number of online ride-hailing drivers has increased, the competition in the industry has intensified, and in order to make more money, he has driven more than 12 hours a day.
In the past, Xiang Fei would put a headrest in the driver's seat to keep the head and waist in a relatively comfortable state, but in the past two years, the platform has required drivers to unify their image and not allow personal belongings to be placed on the car, and he can only remove these items. Xiang Fei said that because of the difficulty of parking, he rarely went to the toilet, and many drivers also suffered from prostatitis.
A 2021 study by Tsinghua University showed that online ride-hailing drivers in first-tier cities worked an average of 11.05 hours a day and an average of 6.45 days a week. More than 80% of e-hailing drivers drive for more than 8 hours a day.
"You have a new order, please take the order in time", Wu Jiahong, the driver of the online car, took advantage of the lack of passengers, ready to take a nap in the car, and did not squint for 10 minutes, and the mobile phone rang the order notification again. Wu Jiahong gets out of the car at 7 o'clock every day, and sometimes comes home at 12 o'clock at night. On this day, she wanted to complete the day's task as soon as possible, so she did not turn off the order receiving system during the break, but just after starting the car, a burst of cervical pain accompanied by a dizziness suddenly struck, and she had to cancel the single task and go home to rest.
Go to the hospital once, less than half a day's income
E-hailing drivers are flexible workers, have not signed labor contracts with the platform, and have no social security, which has always been a dilemma for e-hailing drivers to be solved. All along, Qi Caijuan has been paying social insurance herself as a flexible worker.
Although she often feels unwell, in order to take more orders, Qi Caijuan rarely goes to the hospital. "If you delay half a day, in addition to the money you have to spend on medical treatment, the half-day income is gone." She said that when the stomach is uncomfortable, go to the community hospital to prescribe some stomach medicine, put it on the car for backup, and when the shoulder and neck are really uncomfortable, they will go to the massage parlor and press it, once every two months on average.
After resting at home for half a day, Wu Jiahong still felt that her chest was stuffy, and in desperation, she came to a hospital the next day. "It cost me nearly 300 yuan in the morning, which is almost half a day's worth of my flowing water." Wu Jiahong told reporters that if she uses medical insurance settlement, she only needs to pay half of the money, but because the platform did not pay medical insurance for it, her own medical insurance was not renewed after expiration, and she could only pay in full.
On November 30 last year, the Ministry of Transport and eight other departments issued the "Opinions on Strengthening the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Employees in New Forms of Transportation", which proposed to encourage online ride-hailing platform enterprises to actively participate in the pilot project of occupational injury protection, and at the same time urge online ride-hailing platform enterprises to participate in social insurance for drivers who meet the labor relationship situation in accordance with the law, and guide and support drivers who are not fully in line with the establishment of 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 these platforms have not signed labor contracts with them, which is only a "cooperative relationship". She said that if there is a platform that can pay social security and medical insurance for it, she is willing to run a single full-time on a platform.
"I hope that the platform can provide free regular medical examinations"
After driving an online car in Beijing for 7 years, Xiang Fei recently participated in the free medical examination of drivers organized by the trade union system through the platform for the first time.
Xiang Fei was very satisfied with this inspection. He told reporters that the content of the physical examination not only includes routine examinations such as blood routine, liver and kidney function, and full abdominal color ultrasound, but also a special examination of the prostate for drivers.
After the physical examination, the hospital also carried out lectures on disease prevention and first aid for the occupational diseases of 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 a lot more comfortable after the shoulder and neck massage." Xiang Fei said, but he didn't know when the next physical examination would be.
As she grew older, Qi Caijuan became more and more concerned about her physical condition, and since the platform had not yet provided free physical examinations to drivers, she took the initiative to check herself twice. "I hope that the platform can provide free regular medical examinations and work with peace of mind." Qi Caijuan said.
Chen Baosheng introduced that considering the professional characteristics of drivers, in addition to the annual routine physical examination, more in-depth and comprehensive examinations should be done for key parts such as the spine every 3 years or so. The driver himself should also pay attention to physical health, and try to 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 participation of flexible employment personnel in the basic medical insurance of employees pointed out that employees of new employment forms, including relying on new business platforms such as e-commerce, online ride-hailing, online food delivery, and express logistics, and have not established labor relations with enterprises on new format platforms, can participate in basic medical insurance for employees in Guangdong Province and are not subject to household registration restrictions. The initiative will increase health protection for workers in new employment forms such as ride-hailing drivers. (Reporter An Yanjing)
Source: Workers Daily