Woowahan Cheongnyeondeul, which is in charge of logistics for Baedal Minjok, has been running an expert consultative body to discuss rider safety for a second year. Woowahan Cheongnyeondeul said on Monday that the second term of its Rider Safety Management Committee has been launched.

The Rider Safety Management Committee is a rider safety and health expert governance body that Woowahan Cheongnyeondeul launched first in the industry in February last year. Experts from academia, the media, management and labour have taken part to review rider safety policies and operating programmes and propose directions for improvement. Through its activities, the committee identified additional hazardous risk factors through risk assessments and provided free support for riders' health checkups for cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases. It also conducted research analysing industrial accidents and held policy debates on creating a safe delivery environment.

The second-term committee comprises five members: Na-kyung Kyung (경나경), a professor at Sungkyunkwan University's School of Business; Wang-gu Lee (이왕구), an editorial writer at The Korea Times; Woo-taek Lim (임우택), head of the Safety and Health Headquarters at the Korea Employers Federation; Myung-jin Song (송명진), secretary-general of the Korea Platform Freelancer Workers Mutual Aid Association; and Chang-eui Hong (홍창의), head of the Delivery Platform Workers' Union. The committee strengthened independence and expertise by having experts from each field participate on an equal footing without a separate chair.

The committee plans to discuss follow-up measures to an agreement signed in May with the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the National Police Agency to create a safe and healthy workplace for delivery platform workers. It aims to develop a public-private cooperation model in line with government policy directions and present safety management standards that can be expanded across the delivery industry. The committee plans to continue discussions on policy and institutional improvements in cooperation with related organisations based on expert advice.

Oh-jung Kwon (권오중), CEO of Woowahan Cheongnyeondeul, said the committee, now in its second year, has become a core governance body where academia, the media, management and labour discuss rider safety together and present safety standards for the industry. He said he would complete a practical system in which discussions at the committee are reflected in on-site operations and safety policies.