It could happen to you
Paula Anderson, a postie in Gainsborough Delivery Office, knows only too well that it could happen to you. In the nine years working for Royal Mail she has suffered five dog attacks and still bears a scar from the worst.
Paula says: ‘I’ve always been careful. You get to know the dogs on your route, and to take extra care on unfamiliar rounds. I have dogs myself, so I’m certainly not scared of them.’
The first time Paula got bitten, a dog leapt over a gate. She put her arm up to protect her face and it bit her elbow. The second time, Paula entered the garden of a block of flats and spotted a man with a dog but couldn’t see a lead.
‘I stepped back and asked if I was safe,’ she remembers. ‘The man reassured me and appeared to take hold of the animal, but as I got to my first door, the dog came hurtling towards me, running up my leg and biting me on the arm.’
The wound was deep. Paula had to go to A&E for a tetanus jab and antibiotics. It took more than three weeks to heal, and she was left with a three-inch scar.
Some months later – despite police speaking to the owner – the same dog escaped through an open door and went for Paula again. This time, she managed to fight it off with her foot and get to safety.
Since then, Paula has been bitten on the finger twice: handing a parcel over at the door, and by a dog that appeared suddenly from around the back of a house.
‘I’m resilient,’ Paula says, ‘but once you’ve been bitten, you’re more anxious.
‘At home, I don’t let my dogs anywhere near the front door. If customers could commit to this, we’d be a lot safer.’
Paula appears telling her full story in the latest issue of Courier. Read it here on pages 30 and 31.
Last year we saw a 15% increase in dog bites compared to the previous year, with over 2,200 of our people being attacked - some leading to permanent and disabling injuries. An increase in the dog population has contributed to this.
In this video, Lizz Lloyd, Health & Safety Director ,talks more about why Dog Awareness Week is so important to us at Royal Mail.
