Rideshare Companies Launch Industry Sharing Safety Program in the U.S.

Rideshare Companies Launch Industry Sharing Safety Program in the U.S.

Uber and Lyft are introducing the Industry Sharing Safety Program, a first-of-its-kind effort to share information about the drivers and delivery people deactivated from each company’s platform for the most serious safety incidents including sexual assault and physical assaults resulting in a fatality.

The goal of the program is to further enhance the safety of the entire ridesharing industry and equip companies with important safety information to protect their customers. Lyft and Uber will share information about driver deactivations related to the five most critical safety issues within the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s (NSVRC) Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Violence Taxonomy, along with physical assault fatalities.

The information sharing will be administered by HireRight, a workforce solutions provider that will collect and manage the data from individual companies, match and share information between the companies and ensure that each company is abiding by best practices and industry standards informed by sexual violence prevention experts and the NSVRC Taxonomy.

The companies says they have worked with HireRight to develop a “survivor-centric, comprehensive process that incorporates learnings from anti-sexual violence advocates over the past several years and prioritizes safety, privacy and fairness for both drivers and survivors.”

“Sexual assault is drastically underreported, making these crimes less likely to show up in our rigorous background check and screening processes,” said Jennifer Brandenburger, head of policy development at Lyft. “With the Industry Sharing Safety Program, Lyft and Uber are working together to further enhance our screening capabilities, as well as the safety of the entire rideshare industry.”

Moving forward, the program will be open to other transportation and delivery network companies within the United States. Participants must agree to specific requirements including meeting data accuracy expectations, applying the shared taxonomy to consistently classify incident reports, maintaining consistent and fair handling procedures and privacy measures, and communicating data on deactivated drivers with HireRight to be shared with the other participants.

“Safety should never be proprietary. You should be safe no matter what ridesharing platform you choose. We’re thrilled to come together with Lyft to improve safety for the entire industry,” said Tony West, senior vice president and chief legal officer at Uber. “Tackling these tough safety issues is bigger than any one of us and this new Industry Sharing Safety Program demonstrates the value of working collaboratively with experts, advocates and others to make a meaningful difference. We encourage more companies to join us.”