The French Government’s health & safety agency has found that food delivery couriers in the country face widespread risks.
The National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (Anses) published the report in April 2025, after the CGT union made a request for the situation of riders to be investigated.
The detailed analysis found that riders “experience a combination of short- and long-term health effects, notably linked to constant pressure, isolation, and a difficult work environment”.
The study found that 26.4% of riders had suffered an accident at work, with this number rising to 46.2% for riders hired on a ‘self-employed’ basis.
Risk factors include “the lack of compensation for waiting time, the opacity of trip allocation rules, and the proliferation of evaluation metrics (geolocation data, ratings, etc.)” which “create an anxiety-provoking situation” which encourages riders “to constantly try to ‘do more’ to generate a decent income: : respond to notifications more quickly, deliver faster, stay connected longer, be connected during times when there are the most requests (evenings, weekends, bad weather days), etc.”
The Anses study added: “These factors of acceleration, intensification, competition, isolation, and precariousness combine with the characteristics of bicycle delivery in urban areas to increase the risks of accidents (minor, serious, or fatal), fatigue, and physical and mental wear and tear.”
The report found that the current insurance provided to riders by platforms was “inadequate” and that the riders were bogus self-employed.
“As organisers of delivery workers’ work, platforms hold the main levers for implementing a prevention policy and should therefore implement a work organisation that at a minimum complies with the general principles of prevention [in the labour code],” the study argued.
Recommendations for action include that platforms must implement the labour code as it pertains to the health & safety of employees, that riders must be included in a social security scheme, that there should be mandatory data reporting on rider health & safety statistics, and that there should be a limit on daily and weekly working time on the platforms.
The findings of the study are at odds with the perspective of the French President Emmanuel Macron, who has consistently insisted that food delivery couriers are independent contractors, not employees.
You can read the full study here.