THERE has been a spike in dog attacks on postal workers in the north, new figures from Royal Mail reveal.
Dog attacks in the BT postcode, which covers all of Northern Ireland, are up 21 per cent on last year.
A total of 2,445 incidents were recorded by Royal Mail in the 12 months to April 2020, including 76 in the north. The attacks resulted in 1,622 days of absence.
Royal Mail said 470 dog attacks have now been recorded on its staff in the BT postcode in the last five years.
It said 78 per cent of all attacks occurred at front doors, in gardens or in the street.
Royal Mail has urged dog owners to ‘think twice’ when opening the door as the postman or postwoman calls.
From today, a special dog awareness week postmark will be applied to all stamped items from until Saturday July 11.
Royal Mail is also set to roll out a virtual reality training (VR) package on a wider basis after seeing a marked improvement in attack figures from a number of trials.
It said the VR training enables postmen and postwomen to become fully immersed in a photo-realistic, delivery environment to see how they would react to the threat of a dog attack.
It involves a special VR headset, with postal workers stepping into a realistic virtual scenario where they are asked to assess relevant cues that a dog may be present. They are then tested on whether they are performing all the correct steps during their delivery to ensure their safety.
