SafeWork NSW has fined a food delivery company for not adequately training more than 1000 food delivery riders in hazard and fatigue management, road safety, the use of PPE and work health and safety duties and obligations.
This comes as the NSW Government introduced a bill to parliament that, if passed, paves the way for increased penalties for non-compliance with Work Health and Safety regulations.
SafeWork NSW Inspectors recently met with representatives from Fantuan to discuss rider safety trends identified in recent compliance activities and assess Fantuan’s compliance with Part 4.11 of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017.
Under 4.11 of the WHS regulations, platforms must supply high-vis personal protective equipment to food delivery riders (FDR), provide food delivery induction training to FDRs and ensure FDRs have successfully completed training.
SafeWork NSW issued Fantuan with a number of improvement notices in relation to induction training provided not being adequate or completed, and failing to keep records of training in accordance with regulations. Fantuan were also issued with four penalty notices worth a total of $13,600.
Safework will be following up with the corporation on the matter and failure to comply with any future improvement notice can result in a penalty of up to $332,611 for the corporation.
There have been eight fatalities involving food delivery riders in NSW since January 2018. Two of those fatalities occurred in 2023.
Minister for Industrial Relations and Work Health and Safety, Sophie Cotsis said:
“We have put the onus on food delivery platforms to ensure the riders they engage are trained properly and have systems in place that ensure riders are trained and this is recorded”.
“Safework inspectors in NSW are meeting with other food delivery platforms and more fines and penalties will be coming for platforms who can’t demonstrate that they’ve met these requirements”.
“This is a message to other food delivery companies who don’t follow the rules, you are on notice”.
