Food delivery industry

Personal Protective Equipment

All food delivery booking providers (platforms) are required to supply food delivery riders (riders) with:

• high-visibility personal protective equipment (PPE), including a retroreflective outer clothing item and a bag or container for safely transporting food or drink.
• the garment and the delivery bag must comply with the relevant Australian Standard
• a platform does not need to provide PPE if the rider is able to use PPE already provided by another platform.

While delivering food or drink, all riders are legally required to use or wear the PPE that has been provided to them.

Training

All platforms are required to provide riders with induction training before they allow a rider to work for their platform. This induction must include training on:

• hazard and fatigue management
• road safety
• use of PPE
• work health and safety duties and obligations.

It is recommended that records are kept of this to enable platforms to prove compliance.

Training verification

All platforms must provide each rider with a training record which verifies that the rider has successfully completed induction training.

The verification record can be in any format that the platform chooses (i.e., physical card, digital page, email, in-app feature), and must contain the following information:

• the rider’s name, address, date of birth and photograph
• the date on which the rider completed their training
• the date on which the rider was provided with their PPE.

All riders are legally required to make the training verification record issued available for inspection by an inspector or a police officer.

Record keeping

When providing induction training, platforms must maintain records of:

• the name of the rider who has completed the training
• the date the training was provided to the rider and the date it was completed
• the content of the training (i.e., the modules that it covered and information that was provided).

When providing PPE to a rider, platforms must maintain records of:

• the name of the rider provided with PPE
• the date the PPE was provided to the rider
• detail of the PPE provided (i.e., type of PPE).

These records must be kept for a period of five years.

If SafeWork NSW makes a written request for a record, platforms must provide a copy within five days.

Compliance

Penalties and fines will apply to platforms who cannot demonstrate that they have met these requirements. The penalty amounts are set out in the Regulation.

Should a rider fail to wear the PPE provided or have their training verification record available then they could receive an on-the-spot fine of $144. View the full WHS Amendment (Food Delivery Riders) Regulation 2022.

Read the SafeWork NSW Regulatory approach to NSW work health and safety legislation – Food Delivery Riders.

In November 2020, the then Hon. Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation, Kevin Anderson announced the establishment of a Joint Taskforce (Taskforce) to explore the recent deaths of food delivery riders and identify safety improvements for the industry. Over the next six months, the Taskforce moved through four stages of delivery: a roundtable forum; industry consultation and commitment to developing an action plan; a compliance program; and reporting.

Year in review

Following the Taskforce, SafeWork NSW provided an overview for food delivery rider safety including the number of incidents, industry achievements and resources available to improve safety.

• Year in Review: 1 April 2021 – 31 March 2022

Final report

The Taskforce's final report outlines the recommendations of the Taskforce to promote compliance within the sector and further protect riders from death or serious injury.

• Food Delivery Rider Safety final report (PDF, 3314.02 KB)

Industry action plan (IAP)

The IAP was developed through collaboration between partners and government and highlights the specific activities conducted, over a 12 month period, to improve the health and safety of food delivery riders.

• Industry Action Plan Quarterly Update - April 2022 (PDF, 2350.69 KB)

Data Intelligence Reports

The Taskforce data intelligence report provides an overview of the industry with snapshot reports released quarterly, over a 12 month period, to monitor the industry.

• Data Intelligence Report snapshot: January – March 2022 (PDF, 207.77 KB)Data Intelligence Report snapshot: October – December 2021 (PDF, 190.4 KB)
• Data Intelligence Report snapshot: July – September 2021 (PDF, 222.79 KB)
• Data Intelligence Report snapshot: April – June 2021 (PDF, 257.22 KB)
• Data Intelligence Report: March 2021 (PDF, 1214.05 KB)