As in most other occupations, those who deliver mail have to face daily safety hazards. The number of South Carolina mail carriers who have been injured on the job is a matter of concern, and many injuries suffered by these workers are caused by dog bites. The U.S. Postal Service recently urged South Carolina residents to restrain their dogs – or lock them up – during the times that mail is delivered.
Statistics shows that dozens of mail carriers suffer dog bites every year. Although any dog bite requires immediate medical care to avoid complications, it is alarming that so many of these bites have been severe enough to be reported to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Records show that the dog attacks took place across South Carolina, but many of those incidents occurred in Greenville, the most of any other city.
The safety manager of the Greater South Carolina District published some ideas for dog owners on how to prevent their dogs from biting mail carriers.
The tips include locking the dogs up and teaching children not to ask a mail carrier to hand the mail to them. An otherwise docile dog may interpret the mail carrier’s gesture of handing over the mail as threatening, seeing this as a reason to attack. In some cases, dog owners may need to pick up their mail at the post office instead of having it delivered to their homes.
Workers who are injured on the job may pursue compensation to cover medical expenses that were incurred. Such financial relief is obtained by filing benefit claims with the workers’ compensation insurance fund.
Workers are typically barred from filing claims against their employers. Nevertheless, mail carriers who are bitten by the dogs of people in the areas where they deliver mail may be entitled to file third party claims of personal injury against the dog owners in a civil court. While workers compensation benefits cover only medical expenses and a portion of lost wages, a civil claim may include other losses such as pain and suffering and can be filed in addition to a workers’ compensation claim.
