You should always exercise good business judgement while offering delivery services to ensure your safety and those of other Canadian residents!
When you arrive at the customer’s delivery address, you may on occasion encounter various health and safety hazards. These can appear insignificant, however, under some conditions may put you at risk.
It’s always a good idea to perform a quick ‘Take 5’ when arriving at a customer’s address and to assess if there are any hazards that may impact your delivery. You can read more about the ‘Take 5’ method in our blog article Identifying risks and managing hazards when delivering.
Be careful – Slip, trip and fall hazards
Although walking to the door of an address or up a pathway looks like an easy task (and most of the time it is) we recommend always looking out for any potential hazards, such as:
- Slip hazards – Wet, moss-covered or oily paths
- Trip hazards – rocks, sticks, toys, etc
- Fall hazards – Stairways, steps, etc
You are most at risk of these hazards during low light times of the day such as dusk or night time. To avoid these hazards, it is recommended that you wear 1) non-slip shoes and 2) use a torch to illuminate your intended path.
Interactions with pets
As a courier, you may encounter pets during delivery. As animals can be unpredictable, you should always treat them with caution. If you are not confident in dealing with a pet, you should make contact with the customer so that the pet can either be secured or request that the delivery be completed outside of the area.
The ASPCA provides advice on dealing with pets whilst performing deliveries. You can access this information here.
Interactions with abusive customers, restaurant partners or the broader community
You will encounter people with different personalities while offering delivery services. If you find yourself dealing with a volatile situation or an aggressive person, you should exercise business judgement in how you respond. You can:
- move a safe distance away from the aggressive person
- Choose to remain calm and not engage in aggressive behaviour or retaliate
- notify Skip of the incident via the Skip Courier App
- contact your local police
The safety of all our Stakeholders is a priority. As such, we take abusive behaviour seriously and we do not tolerate abusive behaviour from any Stakeholder. It is important that you consider notifying Skip so that we can take the necessary action required.
Remember your emergency contact details
In case an emergency or serious incident occurs, we also recommend you carry emergency contact details on you in an accessible place at all times so that emergency services can easily contact your next of kin. Details such as an emergency contact and number are invaluable when emergency services are trying to provide you with the best care possible.
Make sure that this information is in a physical format, such as a card that can be carried in your wallet or bag. Digital formats may be tricky as they would require access to your phone or other device which may not be possible.