Lyft and Uber are sharing information about drivers and delivery people deactivated from their platforms for incidents, including sexual assaults and physical assaults resulting in a fatality.
In a blog post, Lyft says the goal of the Sharing Safety Program is to further enhance the safety of the ride-sharing industry and equip companies with safety information to protect their customers.
Jennifer Brandenburger, head of policy development at Lyft, says: “Sexual assault is drastically underreported, making these crimes less likely to show up in our rigorous background check and screening processes."
"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.”
Workforce solutions provider HireRight will collect and manage data from individual companies and match and share information between them.
The partners have worked with HireRight to develop a process that incorporates learnings from groups which work to prevent sexual violence over the past several years and prioritises safety, privacy and fairness for both drivers and survivors.
Moving forward, the programme will be open to other transportation and delivery network companies within the US.
Participants must agree to meet data accuracy expectations, maintain consistent and fair handling procedures and privacy measures and communicate data on deactivated drivers with HireRight to be shared with the other participants.
Tony West, senior vice president at Uber, says: “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.”
