Staying uber safe in the gig economy: Safe Work Australia’s Deliver yourself home safely campaign
By Haidyn Vecera
There is no doubt that food delivery services have become an integral part of our society during the hustle and bustle of our modern world. In truth, however, this story has a less visible aspect - the perilous working conditions faced by food delivery workers behind the scenes.
I recently spoke to Meredith from Safe Work Australia. As spokesperson for the Deliver yourself home safely campaign, Meredith shed light on the intricate nature of safety and well-being issues surrounding these individual workers. Insight was provided into the demographics represented by food delivery workers, safety risks, recent measures aimed at ensuring workers’ safety, and the effectiveness of campaigns designed specifically to ensure their safety.
Food delivery workers form a diverse group of individuals, consisting of a high proportion of young adult male migrants and international students.
The Deliver yourself home safely campaign will therefore provide educational materials on work health safety in many languages, including Mandarin, Punjabi, Nepali, Vietnamese, Hindi, and Urdu. This is necessary as many food delivery workers do not speak English as their first language.
However, regardless of the cultural backgrounds of each food delivery worker, there is general confusion as to whether these workers are considered employees, independent contractors, or sub-contractors. Understanding this classification holds implications for work cover, raising concerns about the level of protection and support offered to these workers.
Interestingly, Meredith said that under our current work, health and safety laws, employment status is not actually relevant to the application of our laws.
"Under the model work, health and safety laws that we have in Australia, what we call a person conducting a business or undertaking, or a PCBU, they've got a duty to ensure, so far as reasonably practical, the health and safety of its workers.
“So the concept of a worker is broad and includes employees, independent contractors and subcontractors, so people doing food delivery work are definitely covered by the model work, health and safety laws, and so too food delivery platforms who dispatch deliveries to a driver and the food outlets who provide the food, drink to be delivered, they’re PCBUs as well that must ensure so far as is reasonably practicable the health and safety of food delivery drivers,” Meredith said.
However, this system becomes complicated as food delivery workers themselves can be considered a PCBU.
“This will appear if the food delivery driver is performing work as their own business, known as an independent contractor. And as a PCBU, they share a responsibility with the platform and the food outlet to protect their own health and safety,” Meredith said.
While identifying the parties responsible for work health and safety is important, this does not minimise the harm already done to people undertaking this work. In an alarming trend revealed by Safe Work Australia, there were 10 reported deaths of food delivery workers across Australia over the past four years. It is this stark reality that explores the circumstances that led to these incidents and whether they were able to affect recent legislative changes as a result.
Recently, there was a new safety law introduced in New South Wales, mandating high visibility clothing and other personal protective equipment (such as a bike helmet) for food delivery workers. This is due to the alarming increase in rider fatalities over the last several years. Over the course of my discussion with Meredith, the question was raised as to whether these new laws were enacted as a response to the fatalities.
"These deaths and injuries focus national attention on safety issues in the food delivery industry, including the need to provide targeted work, health and safety information to those workers," Meredith said.
There are, however, always going to be several pressure points that contribute to workplace incidents in any job within the Australian workforce.
"Food delivery workers often take risks to meet delivery deadlines or to take on extra deliveries to boost their income.
"Furthermore, they may not know who to talk to about safety issues at work and what their rights and duties are," Meredith said.
As a result of careful consideration of each and every pressure point, Safe Work Australia has created resources for food delivery workers that will assist them in understanding what they can do to stay safe at work, who they can talk to regarding workplace safety, as well as where they can get more information.
Food delivery safety guidelines issued by Safe Work Australia in 2021 are an important step in the right direction for the industry. However, following two years of accidents and fatalities, a decision was finally made to create the campaign. Understanding the timeline of safety interventions is pivotal in assessing the industry's responsiveness to these emerging challenges.
"We started developing national guidance with the food delivery industry so that we included delivery workers, their platforms and the food outlets, to help them understand and comply with their duties under the work, health and safety laws.
"To complement this guidance material [we] really needed to launch the Deliver yourself home safely campaign with more target information to help the food delivery workers more specifically and understand how they can be safe while working," Meredith said.
Within today's society, a diverse group of food delivery workers face a great number of complex and unique dangers within their given work environment. To address all of these said dangers, we require a thorough and comprehensive understanding of the industry dynamics, legislative responses, and ongoing safety initiatives. Only through sustained efforts and a collaborative approach can we hope to create a safer environment for those who tirelessly deliver convenience to our doorsteps.
Safe Work Australia’s Deliver yourself home safely campaign will contribute to positive change. Such campaigns take us a step in the right direction to face the challenges that food delivery workers encounter, providing a safer, more understanding workplace environment for them.
As Meredith asserted, “All workers, including food delivery workers, migrant or not, have the right to be safe at work”.