Health Hazards of Insecure Work

Abstract

This paper draws on data collected in interviews with 72 rural workers in rural Victoria. It documents the impact of insecure and casual work on the respondents health: that they come to work sick, that they continue working while injured, that they conceal OH&S accidents, and that they forgo health interventions. All of these actions are a direct consequence of the major transformation in the social organisation of work towards more flexible and less secure forms of employment such as temporary and contract work that exclude workers from many of the benefits enjoyed by fulltime, ongoing workers. Show more