Food delivery: As Dubai’s food delivery booms, the number of dangers and casualties has increased

After a while, a car passed by him.

The collision bounced Mohammed Ifran off his bike and knocked him into the street. When the 21-year-old was delivering a meal worth about $8, he died immediately.After abandoning agriculture in Pakistan, he has been working as a contractor in Dubai Tarabat, An online Takeaway Popular apps in the United Arab Emirates.

“The only source of happiness for his family has disappeared,” said a courier in the working-class district of Deira, who declined to be named out of fear of retaliation.

Workers and advocates say the death of Ifrane in June is just one of the growing number of casualties among food delivery workers in Dubai, as the pandemic pushed millions of people indoors and accelerated the surge in app-based orders.

The boom has changed the streets and shops of Dubai, attracting thousands of desperate riders, mainly Pakistanis, who engage in high-risk, lax-regulated, and sometimes fatal jobs. Most people are paid between US$2 and US$3 per delivery, instead of a fixed salary. Riders race in the heat to keep up with ruthless orders.

The condition of global couriers has been in danger for a long time and worsened during the pandemic, as riders have become a necessity for urban diets and are at risk of exposure to the new coronavirus. But in Dubai, the emirate of the United Arab Emirates relies on low-paid immigrant labor from Africa and Asia, the job can be particularly unstable.

At the mercy of visa sponsors, workers in Dubai have little protection.In order to reduce costs, companies like London takeout Outsourcing bicycles, logistics, and responsibilities to contracting agencies—a labor pipeline throughout the Gulf Arab countries can lead to Abuse.

“For food delivery staff in the UAE, the problem of exploitation is usually a sponsor’s problem. This is where people feel they can’t change jobs or even complain about working conditions,” said senior researcher Karen Yang. The Middle East Institute in Washington.

On the streets of Dubai, more than a dozen delivery men interviewed said that they knew that two or three colleagues were killed every month. Many people say that the memories of colleagues lying on the street wearing torn uniforms and blood-stained helmets are still vivid when riding bicycles every morning.

The Dubai Police has not yet released statistics on road traffic accidents in 2020. Past statistics did not provide the number of deaths from motorcycles. The authorities refused to provide recent figures or comment on car accidents like Ifran.

In the absence of official figures, advocates have searched local media to gauge the hidden fees for this work. A road safety activist who declined to be named because of fear of retaliation collected news reports about at least 70 food delivery people hospitalized in Dubai last year, and 24 of them died.

He said that although this number may be underestimated, it is “very high” for Dubai in a year that kept most residents away from the road. In 2019, a total of 448 people died in car accidents across the country.

The country-related UAE newspaper, National, reported that 12 delivery drivers were killed during the city’s lockdown in April alone, citing a police official who said, “When the money entered the equation, Security was put aside.”

Industry experts say that couriers in Dubai usually lack protective equipment and adequate safety training, and riders are not educated in critical motorcycle operations such as blind spot inspections. The helmet is often worn incorrectly. The contractor allocates only $27 a month for bicycle repairs-a small sum for necessary oil changes and brake, tire and plug maintenance.

In response to a question from the Associated Press, the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority stated that safety remains the government’s “first priority” because it supports the explosive growth of the express delivery market. The authorities mentioned recently announced regulations, including penalizing riders for using fast lanes, requiring the use of cooling towels, and reducing riding radius.

Passengers from the two major companies, Deliveroo and Talabat, stated that they received limited insurance from third-party contractors, with payments usually capped at a few hundred dollars, with no death pensions or car accident compensation. Several passengers who were knocked down by a car during the delivery said their contractor refused to pay the high cost of the Dubai hospital and instead forced them to fly back to Pakistan to pay for cheaper surgery.

UAE-based Talabat increased its deliveries by 100% in the first half of this year. The platform stated that the platform has “very high standards” for rider training and ensures that contractors provide medical insurance in accordance with legal requirements. The company is owned by Germany-based Delivery Hero, and it has introduced a working group of the best riders. It said, “They help ensure that our fleet in the UAE continues to comply with safety rules.”

Deliveroo stated that it has adjusted working hours “to meet particularly high customer demand” and emphasized that all passengers provide documents, including insurance, to their contractors.

“Our agency operators in each market are working with Deliveroo to ensure quality standards,” it said.

Neither Deliveroo nor Talabat provided accident or death data to their contractors. London-based Deliveroo is valued at more than US$8 billion, while Talabat owner Delivery Hero is valued at more than US$35 billion.

Authorities transferred all riders injured in the car accident to government-run hospitals, and doctors declined to comment. But the staff of private hospitals said that they have also seen more and more food couriers falling off their bicycles with broken limbs.

“Of course they will get injured. They are overworked, dehydrated and exhausted,” said Dr. Taimoor Tung of Dubai Orthopedics and Spine Hospital.

A rider, Mohammed Asin (Mohammed Asin) said that if his childhood classmate, 22-year-old Hamed Shafiq (Hamed Shafiq) was not riding a horse for Tarabat, he would never leave him in Sia, Pakistan. Alcott’s family participated in the competition as a deliveryman in Dubai.

“He kept saying,’Join me, this is a dream. We can make real money. Our family can live a better life,'” Asin said.

On February 16, Asin landed in Dubai, lived with Shafiq and signed Deliveroo, ready to realize his dream.

The next day, his best friend died—his bike was knocked down by a car that turned into his lane. However, Asin has been delivered to this day.