Protocol for an observational study of working conditions and musculoskeletal health in Swedish online retail warehousing from the perspective of sex/gender and place of birth

Abstract

European and International sustainable development agendas aim to reduce inequalities in working conditions and work-related health, yet disparate occupational health outcomes are evident between both men and women and domestic- and foreign-born workers. In Sweden, major growth in online retail warehousing has increased occupational opportunities for foreign-born workers. The rapid change has left research lagging on working conditions, i.e., employment conditions, facility design, work organisation, physical and psychosocial work environment conditions, and their effects on worker health. Further, no known studies have considered patterns of inequality related to these factors. The overall aim of this study is to describe working conditions and musculoskeletal health in online retail warehousing, determine the extent to which differences exist related to sex/gender and place of birth (as a proxy for race/ethnicity), and examine factors at the organisational and individual levels to understand why any differences exist. Three online retail warehouses, each employing 50–150 operations workers performing receiving, order picking, order packing and dispatching tasks will be recruited. Warehouses will, to the extent possible, differ in their extent of digital technology use. Employment conditions, facility design (including digital tool use), work organisation, physical and psychosocial work environment conditions and worker health will be assessed by survey, interview and technical measurements. Analysis of quantitative data stratified by sex and place of birth will consider the extent to which inequalities exist. Focus group interviews with operations employees and in-depth interviews with managers, union and health and safety representatives will be conducted to assess how employee working conditions and musculoskeletal health are related to inequality regimes of sex/gender and/or race/ethnicity in organisational processes and practices in online retail warehousing. The study is pre-registered with the Open Science Framework. This study will describe working conditions and health in online retail warehouse workers and consider the extent to which patterns of inequality exist based on sex/gender and place of birth.