Uber, Lyft Partner on Industry Sharing Safety Program

(TNS) — Two of the world's largest e-hail providers have partnered up for a new effort to ensure that drivers with a history of assault can not register to drive on other platforms.

On Thursday, Uber and Lyft announced the launch of the Industry Sharing Safety Program, a first-of-its-kind initiative where the two companies will share information regarding drivers and delivery workers who have been banned from their respective platforms for sexual assaults and physical assaults resulting in a fatality.
 
By sharing this information, drivers who were banned from their first platform for a serious crime will no longer be able to simply re-register with the other company. "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 ride-share industry."
 
The data sharing will be conducted by HireRight, a workforce solutions company that will collect, manage and share the information between the two companies and ensure that the companies are not hiring any drivers or delivery workers with a past history of assault.
 
While starting as a two-company partnership between Uber and Lyft, the Industry Sharing Safety Program will be open to all other transportation and delivery companies who wish to participate.
In order to join the program, companies will need to agree to providing accurate data regarding user deactivations to HireRight, consistently classifying their incident reports and ensuring proper privacy measures are in place to protect assault victims.
 
"Safety should never be proprietary. You should be safe no matter what ride-sharing platform you choose," 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."
 
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