dog bite,lost finger

[Fantomas]

One of my colleagues,a relief postie, recently lost a finger after posting to an address with a dog on other side of the letterbox.There was no mention of a dog in the walk log,and basically she's been told it's her own fault.
No manager has spoken to her,her union rep shrugged his shoulders.She phoned a different union rep 3 weeks ago,he said he'd get back to her,but hasn't as of yet.
She's pretty depressed about the whole thing,she's not looking for compensation,just a "sorry" from management,an acceptance that the walk log was out of date,anything would be better than nothing!

Anyway,any advice,or anyone who's been thru something similar?

[noggin1969]

Unfortunately if she placed her fingers through the letterbox there is no claim against the dog owners , there may be a slim chance because there was no mention of it in the walk log and she had not been given a post peg against RM but i'm sure they'll say the same she was at fault. Not much chance of a "sorry" from management as this could be taken as an admittance of guilt.

[DB1100]

One of my colleagues,a relief postie, recently lost a finger after posting to an address with a dog on other side of the letterbox.There was no mention of a dog in the walk log,and basically she's been told it's her own fault.
No manager has spoken to her,her union rep shrugged his shoulders.She phoned a different union rep 3 weeks ago,he said he'd get back to her,but hasn't as of yet.
She's pretty depressed about the whole thing,she's not looking for compensation,just a "sorry" from management,an acceptance that the walk log was out of date,anything would be better than nothing!

Anyway,any advice,or anyone who's been thru something similar?

I occidentally put my finger thru a letterbox and a border collie got hold of it,I had microsurgery to repair the tendons but I didn't lose my finger,this was in the days before posting pegs,but I was told it was my own fault as I shouldn't have put my finger through the letterbox,such is the company we work for.I now am very careful and tend to roll the letters up and let fido rip them and not my finger,I wish your friend well,but tell her not to hold out much hope.

[Fantomas]

Thanks people.Is there no aftercare service she can call? I mean losing a finger is pretty traumatic.The whole subject seems to have been brushed under the carpet at work,altho they have now issued postpegs.....

[brothermagrew]

The question has to be asked why is she talking to or phoning union reps it's a health and safety issue she should be contacting her unit/workplace health and safety rep or her area health and safety rep. Why doesn't she email the cwu national health and safety officer Dave Joyce giving him all the known facts.

[Stella102]

i would call the police report it as dangerous dog

[eastie]

bit of publicity in the papers helps sometimes as well.
Especially when a reporter asks RM to comment on what are they going to do about it

[eastie]

thing is that these days letterboxes have all these brushes, draught excluders and even towels blocking them its sometimes hard to push a letter through without a bit of force being applied and these dog pegs are a waste of time as the dogs think its a game and wait for them each day to grab them , I could even feel the hot breath coming through the letterbox
I gave up with dog pegs because I used to lose one every other day and the DOM wouldnt give me any more.

[Fantomas]

Thanks all for the replies,all good suggestions,will certainly pass on all the advice to her.
As for using/losing too many postpegs,how can they limit something like that!!?? Astounding.Am far too naive to be working for these people lol

[fishtank]

You can't be expected to put letters through a letterbox 600 times a day 52 weeks of the year and not have your fingers occasionally stray through to the other side.
That's what's known as an unreasonable assessment of blame.

There is some blame to be attached to the OPG,some to the owner if they knew the dog was prone to snatching at the mail,some to the previous duty holder if they knew the dog was an issue and didn't update the walk log and some to Royal Mail for not ensuring it's systems were maintained.
There is also an element of sheer bad luck.

[NWpostie]

I know its late in the day, it would have been better to push it with some force and the letter should drop through, once past the flap its not your responsibility, I preferred the dog ripping the letter up than my fingers.
The owner must have known about the dog's behaviour and didn't put up a basket to protect your fingers, lets hope the new dog legislation will be beefed up to take this into account.

Can she not claim on the company's insurance policy, I am pretty sure they didn't train her properly and briefed her on letter box safety, it would not surprise me with the company being such a shambles.


I take great joy when their dog rip up their Giros and cheques including important looking documentations, its not my fault as it got caught on the corner of the letter bx and fido rips it up

[shepherdess]

The buisness has a duty of care to its staff thats what the walk logs are for to tell people of dangers. slips, dogs, etc. Dont leave it phone HEAD OFFICE

[dvbuk55]

It is a no no to put your fingers through the letter box but when I was delivering there was a time or two when the dog pulled my hand through with the mail!
before the days of posting pegs, though I'm not entirely sure I'd use one.

[krussel]

Was this dog recorded on the office WRAP ? (H&S rep should know this)

If it was then there may be neglect if the information was not present on the Walklog

[daveyeff]

they had us in the middle of the floor last summer telling us it was a conduct code offence if your fingers went through the box which could possibly warrant dismissal. honest,,,no lies.!!