Airtasker's rapid growth in the ACT raises work safety concerns

Canberra's "sharing economy" is growing rapidly as workers seek out online jobs platform Airtasker for more employment.

On the heels of Uber's entry into the ACT, Airtasker has registered more than 12,300 people, up from 4522 in January 2016.

Airtasker, which allows users to post jobs they want completed and choose a bidder, is changing the way people work in the ACT.

The website's growth in Canberra comes after the city became the first to regulate ride sharing platform Uber in 2015.

Canberra removalist Tom Janioski is one of thousands of Canberrans who has signed up to the website, which lets users post tasks and workers bid to take them.

The Macedonian migrant built his own business, RemACT, in 2015 after realising many people would need what he did on arrival - some pairs of hands to move into a new home.

Now, he uses the website to fill his truck with extra removal work on trips to Sydney.

Mr Janioski praised the service, saying Airtasker helped him to expand his customer base.

During quieter weeks, he supplements his work with Airtasker removal jobs. Mr Janioski and his company are fully insured for their work.

"It's like additional opportunity. It's not a main job, but it's adding to work.

Airtasker's other jobs vary from the physical to the downright trivial. All of them register a starting price offer.

"Go to Koko Black in the Canberra Centre in Canberra and purchase a 16 piece gift box for $39.50 and deliver to my dad's house in Curtin for his birthday tomorrow," posts one user. The pay? $48.

"Looking for someone to pick up and deliver a burrito to my girlfriend for her birthday. Burrito can be purchased anywhere then delivered to her office ... Will provide words for a note to accompany the burrito. You'll get $25 for the delivery + reimbursed for burrito cost (keep the receipt)," another post describes.

Others use the website to find people to write their CV, clean their home, assemble furniture, or design a logo.

Airtasker was set up to target the home maker's market, challenging the trade of the handyman, lecturer in marketing at the Australian National University Andrew Hughes said.

Its brand was built around the positive experiences users had interacting with each other, he said.

Like on Airbnb, user reviews is the coin of the realm.

The review system assured people they were getting someone good for the job, removing the uncertainty of hiring an unknown tradesman, Dr Hughes said.

The platform had changed the way people worked in Canberra, he said.

However the website's growth brought its own concerns.

Some employers were concerned staff did Airtasker work at weekends and put themselves at risk of injury that would affect them during the week, he said.

Dr Hughes cited a case of a tradesman who told a staff member not to do extra work through Airtasker.

"I think that sort of thing might become more common."

Mr Janioksi said while sometimes job descriptions were not accurate, he had never had a pay dispute with a task poster. He had learned to bid only on jobs with clear descriptions.

Company co-founder and chief executive Tim Fung said there was fewer than one dispute a day across 75,000 tasks each month.

Airtasker was working on developing ways to allow people to better describe their task, while avoiding constraining what people wrote, he said.

"As a start-up, we're trying to find our way."

While users praise the extra work Airtasker brings, the new technology's entrance into the ACT has raised worker safety concerns among unions.

The company describes itself as a platform that connects people and businesses with independent contractors, and likens itself to Yellow Pages and Google.

However its control over workers' relationship with people posting work means it should be classed an employer, not a platform, Unions ACT secretary Alex White said.

He likened Airtasker to a labour hire agency that supplied workers to businesses for a fee.

"All of these apps make the claim they're a technology platform that are disruptive and innovative. There's no innovation," he said.

"This is just using an app to use a very old kind of exploitation."

Airtasker put the burden of risk with employment on the worker, and those posting tasks could also be liable if someone was injured on the job, Mr White said.

Many home and contents insurance packages didn't cover commercial work carried out on properties, he said.

"If someone was seriously injured ... then [posters] are potentially in the firing line, not Airtasker."

Mr Fung said its insurance covered workers for liability for third party personal injury or property damage.

The policy did not cover first person personal injury or property damage for the Airtasker worker and should not be considered a replacement for workers compensation, salary protection or other similar types of insurance, he said.

"Airtasker workers can of course purchase these types of insurances to protect themselves."

Website users should consider any potential financial exposures when hiring someone, he said.

When asked what worker's compensation insurance was available in cases of injury, Mr Fung said that kind of insurance related to a relationship between an employee and an employer.

"The relationship between a job poster and Airtasker worker is that of an independent contractor.

"As when hiring a person to complete a job through any platform or channel (Airtasker, Yellow Pages, Google or referral from a friend), workplace standards are the responsibility of the person requesting the task to be completed."

Mr Fung said Airtasker was working on a number of suggestions from Unions NSW to adapt Airtasker to better protect workers.

The ACT government has not received any complaints about the service from users.

Unions ACT is troubled by Airtasker's 15 per cent fee, imposed on workers rather than posters. Mr White said it was a return to 19th century work practices, where employees paid for the opportunity to work.

The fee was common for similar platforms, and charging the worker increased the number of jobs available by simplifying the purchase process for the buyer, Mr Fung said.

"It's also worth noting that as a trend on our platform, many Airtasker workers explicitly include in their offer an additional charge to cover the service fee."

Airtasker denies it shifts the burden of risk on workers, saying it was no different to hiring a person to complete a job through Yellow Pages or Google.

An ACT government spokesman said it considered Airtasker to be an online platform facilitating the connection of services with consumers needing them.

"Platform operators of this nature generally provide administrative functions, facilitate the payments and offer the platform for the 'connections' to occur," it said.

Asked if the government needed to introduce accreditation rules for users, he said: "We will continue to look at emerging sharing economy platforms and platform operators.

"This is a challenge locally but also at the national level. Any introduction of rules to regulate conduct or activities must be considered broadly by governments to ensure the appropriate balance between innovation and adequate safety protections."