The effects of outsourcing on occupational health and safety: A comparative study of factory-based workers and outworkers in the Australian clothing industry

Outsourcing has become increasingly widespread throughout industrialized so cieties over the past 20 years. Accompanying this has been a renewed growth in home-based work, sometimes using new technologies (telework) but also e ntailing a re-emergence of old forms, such as clothing outwork, used extens ively 100 years ago. A growing body of research indicates that changes to w ork organization associated with outsourcing adversely affect occupational health and safety (OHS), both for outsourced workers and for those working alongside them. This study assessed the OHS implications of the shift to ho me-based workers in the Australian clothing industry by systematically comp aring the OHS experiences of 100 factory-based workers and 100 outworkers. The level of self-reported injury was over three times higher among outwork ers than factory-based workers undertaking similar tasks. The most signific ant factor explaining this difference was the payment system. All outworker s were paid solely by the piece, whereas factory workers were paid either u nder a time plus production bonus system or solely on a time basis. While t he incidence of injury was far higher among outworkers, factory-based worke rs paid under an incentive system reported more injuries than those paid so lely on a time basis. Increasing injury was correlated with piecework payme nt systems.