Food Delivery Riders Need To Be Inducted

For some time now, there has been a steady stream of news reports where food delivery riders in our major cities have been involved in accidents with buses, trams, cars, and pedestrians. It is common for foreign students to do this kind of work while they study in Australia.

During February 2021, SafeWork NSW undertook field inspections and compliance assurance activities of food delivery riders. There were 287 inspections. The inspections revealed that the riders were predominately:

• under 30 years of age (88%)

• male (92%)

• operating as a Food Delivery Rider for more than 12 months (50%)

• not from Australia (99%)

• held an international licence or licence from outside of Australia (88%)

Food Delivery companies that employ foreign workers are not exempt from adhering to our health and safety laws. Our laws apply to every business, no matter how big or small and to everyone who works for the business, no matter their employment status.

Injuries and Fatalities

Talk to bus drivers, tram operators, taxi drivers, and anyone whose job requires driving in our major cities. There have been many incidents over the years where food delivery people have been injured or even killed. It’s also a health and safety matter for the people who were unfortunate enough to have become unwilling participants in the chain of events leading to these tragedies.

A study done for SafeWork NSW published in March 2021 revealed some interesting statistics:

• The vast majority of incidents involved a food delivery rider on a bicycle or motorbike/scooter. This includes eBikes.

• Bicycle/eBike incidents accounted for more than 46%.

• Motorbike/scooter incidents accounted for more than 48% of all incidents.

• Many incidents involved an interaction with another vehicle.

• 75% of all incidents involved being hit by or colliding into another vehicle on or near a road.

• The region of Sydney - City and Inner South accounted for 23% of all incidents. Other regions with a high number of incidents include: Sydney – Inner South West (18%) Sydney – Eastern Suburbs (17%) Sydney – Parramatta (12%) Sydney – Inner West (10%).

From a WHS perspective, most food delivery riders did wear a compliant helmet. However, only 13% of riders wore clothing that was bright or reflective. Shockingly, over 58% wore dark clothing! Only 13% wore hi-visibility clothing.

More than 40% of FDRs were observed operating in an unsafe manner and may have broken a road rule. Some of the most frequently observed practices included:

• Riding on the footpath

• Excessive speed whilst utilising shared pathways

• Riding across a zebra crossing

• Not stopping at a red traffic light

• Riding on the wrong side of the road

• Overtaking on the inside of moving traffic

• Operating their phone while riding.

These practices are all recipes for disaster. But it is up to the Food Delivery service that employs these people to properly inform, train, and supervise their staff. This is a primary duty of any business, as per Section 19 of the WHS Act 2011.

Changes to the law

The good news is that in the newly released NSW WHS Regulation 2025, the hazards and risks of food delivery riders are fully acknowledged and intelligently addressed for what they are with new requirements implemented. These requirements apply to all Food delivery services in New South Wales.

The new Regulation has clarified existing requirements and added additional requirements in keeping with the overarching purpose of WHS law which is for businesses to provide a WHS management system that ensures the safety of its workforce. The new Regulation puts more accountability on food delivery companies to do the right thing.

New Legal requirements

The new information and requirements can be found in Chapter 4 Hazardous work, Part 4.10 Food delivery riders.

In summary:

Clauses 184N – 184S require that food delivery booking providers must provide and ensure food delivery drivers and riders have completed food delivery induction training. No rider or driver may perform a food delivery without first having done this training. Delivery companies must provide hi-vis and appropriate PPE to the riders and drivers to mitigate risks from not being seen by motorists, pedestrians, or public transport services. Delivery vehicles include electric scooters. Providers must keep records of training given and completed. Every business has an overarching duty to provide safe systems of work for its employees, no matter their residency status.

Standard of Training

Clause 72 of the WHS Regulation states that businesses “… must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the information, training and instruction provided under this clause is provided in a way that is readily understandable by any person to whom it is provided.”

Courtenell is compiling new training material from this new information and long-established WHS requirements suitable to provide induction training for food delivery drivers and riders that aligns with the health and safety requirements of the WHS Act and new WHS Regulation.

If you are interested in organizing training of this nature, please contact Courtenell at 02 9552 2066 or email your regular Courtenell technical expert.