Chicago Rideshare Drivers Face Unacceptably High Risk of Getting Hurt on the Job
Each year, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (“COSH”) releases its annual research results into employers considered the riskiest for worker safety in its “Dirty Dozen” list. The yearly reveal coincides with Workers’ Memorial Day. For more, read “National COSH Reveals 2024 ‘Dirty Dozen’ List of Unsafe Employers,” written by Robert Yaniz Jr. and published by OHS Online on April 26, 2024.
From COSH co-executive director Jessica E. Martinez:
“The latest data show an increase in workplace fatalities, injuries and illnesses. An increasing number of children are being assigned to dangerous jobs, and the reality of climate change is bringing the risk of extreme heat to both indoor and outdoor workplaces.
“We release the Dirty Dozen each year to shine a light on what’s going wrong in U.S. workplaces – and to support workers who are joining together to make it right.”
2024 Dirty Dozen List Includes Warning for Chicagoland
The most dangerous places to work in this country, according to COSH, are the following twelve employers:
- Alabama Department Of Corrections
- Ascension
- Black Iron/Xl Concrete
- Costa Farms
- Florence Hardwoods
- Mar-Jac Poultry And Onin Staffing
- Space X And The Boring Company
- Tyson Foods
- Valor Security And Investigations
- Uber And Lyft
- Waffle House
- Walmart.
Of particular importance to those employed here in the Chicagoland area is the focus upon Uber and Lyft ridesharing services and the dangers that drivers face in this industry. So dire are these conditions that the COSH release includes the following spotlight:
“After being violently assaulted by a passenger, there was no substantive or meaningful response that ever came from the rideshare company,” said JC Muhammad, Lyft driver and organizer with The People’s Lobby and Chicago Gig Alliance. “At that moment, I also realized that there wasn’t anything in place to prevent it from happening to me again. So not only was the experience extremely traumatic, but it opened my eyes to the fact that the personal safety of drivers is not actually a priority for Lyft and Uber.”
The full 31-page report detailing the 2024 COSH Dirty Dozen List is available online at no charge (“Dirty Dozen Report”).
Uber and Lyft: High Risk of Worker Injury or Death on the Job
The realities for ridesharing in Illinois and Indiana, and particularly in the Chicago Metro Area, are that drivers must deal with shocking risks of being hurt or killed in assaults with these ridesharing companies failing to respect the need (and duty) to keep workers safe on the job. For details, read our earlier discussions in:
- Ridesharing Assaults: Claims for Injuries During Uber or Lyft Ridesharing Car Service
- Growing Dangers of Workplace Violence and Employer’s Responsibility to Keep Workers Safe from Severe or Fatal Injury
- Workplace Violence: Employer’s Responsibility to Keep Workers Safe.
Of particular concern comes the following warnings from COSH as it includes Uber and Lift in its 2024 Dirty Dozen List (see Dirty Dozen Report, pages 3, 5, 22).
“UBER AND LYFT: Over 80 mobile app workers have been killed on the job since 2017. Internal documents show 24,000 ‘alleged assaults and threats of assault’ against Uber drivers. Workers of color and immigrants bear the brunt of these dangers.” – Dirty Dozen Report, page 5.
Uber, Lyft Ridesharing Jobs: Dangers to Chicago Gig Drivers
COSH included real-life interviews of Uber and Lyft drivers in its determinations. The results are astonishing.
Ridesharing drivers explained that first, everyone knows (drivers and companies) that they face the danger of violence while working behind the wheel. Drivers are being assaulted, raped, or even killed while on the job.
However, instead of helping these drivers, the rideshare companies that are profiting from their efforts push their drivers to go ahead and take riders into their vehicles — even if the driver’s gut call is that the passenger will be dangerous. If the driver decides to follow their instincts and avoid the risk, then they can end up being fired by the rideshare company in what is called “deactivation.” Dirty Dozen Report, page 22.
It’s not like these risks of becoming a crime victim is a mystery to Uber or Lyft. COSH also found an internal company document from Uber that “…reveals 24,000 reported “alleged assaults and threats of assault” against Uber drivers….” Dirty Dozen Report, page 22.
Uber Safety Reports
According to its website, Uber has “…released 2 US Safety Reports that share details on Uber’s safety progress, its processes, and data related to the reports of the most serious safety incidents occurring on our platform. These comprehensive publications are part of our ongoing commitment to continually improve the safety of our platform for all who use it.”
The two reports cover the time periods of 2017-2018 and 2019-2020. Apparently, there have been no new Uber safety reports in the past four years.
The site also includes information regarding driver safety that includes things like:
- In-app emergency assistance button
- 24/7 incident support
- Follow my ride feature
- 2-way ratings
- Phone anonymization
- GPS tracking
- RideCheck
- Contact safety agent
- Audio recording.
Curious by its absence are any features that protect the driver before the rider is in the vehicle. Audio recording, for instance, may provide evidence of injury but does little to protect the driver who is afraid the potential rider will harm them.
Chicago Rideshare Driver Injuries on the Job
Chicago is at the forefront of trying to make these rideshare drivers safer on the job. According to COSH, the Windy City is among several major cities in the country that has drivers coming together to push for things like new safety laws and organizing rideshare workers with rallies and threats of strikes.
For those working for Uber or Lyft, there are additional legal concerns in their pursuit for justice because of the gig relationship of the driver with the ridesharing company.
The company defense will be that they are in the business of selling apps designed to connect gig drivers with riders. Their position is that they are not employers, like the traditional cab company, but instead sellers of technology. In 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) agreed with them. See, NLRB Advice Memorandum Dated April 16, 2019, Uber Technologies, Inc. Cases 13-CA-163062, 14-CA-158833, and 29-CA-177483.
Nevertheless, personal injury claims based upon serious bodily injuries resulting from assaults (physical; sexual) can be made. Duties have been placed on these rideshare companies (and will continue to be defined in the law).
These rideshare injury claims may proceed not only against the individual who committed crimes of violence against the rideshare driver, but against the rideshare company for things like medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, psychological trauma therapy, and more.
For more on ridesharing injury claims involving drivers or passengers, particularly involving the Chicago area, read:
- Chicago Uber and Lyft Ridesharing Accident Cases are Different from Other Illinois Motor Vehicle Accident Claims
- Lyft or Uber Driver Car Crash: Liability in Rideshare Driver Accidents
- Uber Accidents in Chicago: The Growing Danger of Serious Injury in an Uber Rideshare Car Crash
- Ridesharing Accidents: Claims for Injuries during Uber or Lyft Ridesharing Car Crash
- Uber or Lyft Crashes: Liability in Ridesharing Accidents.
Ridesharing is here to stay as part of our expanding gig economy. Uber and Lyft drivers deserve to be kept safe from harm while their efforts profit the ridesharing companies. Please be careful out there!
