RMG/CWU National Dog Awareness Week (DAW) – 30^th June to 6^th July 2025

Further Activities and Throughout the Year

Following on from LTB 127/25 issued this week, which covered the national launch of the Royal Mail Group/CWU National Dog Awareness Week (DAW) 2025.

The purpose of this LTB is to highlight additional DAW activities and to equally offer the opportunity to report on some of the all year round work of the CWU, its Safety Forums and Safety Reps in seeking to reduce dog attacks and incidents both with Royal Mail Group and other organisations.

RMG/CWU DAW Additional Activities 2025

Listed here are some further activities to those previously outlined in LTB 127/25: –

• RMtv DAW

Attached in a Zip File is a series of 6 ‘plasma screens’ shots that have been featured on RMtv during the week with the content building on the AVOID message.  These ‘plasma screens’ have also been placed on Royal Mail’s SharePoint and are available for workplaces to print and display them locally.

• A for AVOID.
• V for Value Yourself.
• O for Observe.
• I for Inform.
• D for Defend.

• RMG DAW Press Statement

Also attached for information is Royal Mail’s Press Statement covering DAW.  This Press Statement issued earlier in the week confirms that 2,197 dog attacks on staff were reported up to the year ending 31^stMarch, marking a 2% increase compared to the previous year.  The statement also confirmed that this number equates to an average of 42 attacks every week across the UK with some leading to permanent and disabling injuries.

The Press Statement also lists the top ten highest postcode areas for reported dog attacks and incidents on postal workers from March 2024 to March 2025.

• DAW Postmark

All this week, Royal Mail will be using a DAW postmark on all stamped mail; an example of this is attached.  It aims to further promote the RMG external web address that customers can visit to get more information on responsible dog ownership.

• Paws for Thought

In collaboration with the Pet Education Partnership, the CWU is currently working on delivering online education webinars under the ‘Paws for Thought’ theme to educate key stage 1 & 2 school children on how to keep postal workers safe from possible dog attacks when they call with a delivery especially during school holidays.

The Pet Education Partnership is a joint initiative between the UK’s leading animal welfare organisations: PDSA, RSPCA, Blue Cross, Cats Protection, Dogs Trust, Woodgreen, USPCA and SSPCA.  Their shared vision is to make animal welfare & safety education accessible to every child aged between 5 and 11 in the UK with the ultimate goal of incorporating it into the curriculum.

• The Wales Dog Safety Partnership (WDSP)

Branches and Safety Reps will recall previous information issued earlier this year in terms of the ongoing work of the CWU in Wales due to significant increases in hospital admissions due to dog bites and incidents.  A problem not just for our members but for the wider community.

Accordingly, the CWU has been working with the Welsh Government, Welsh Police, Royal Mail Group, Welsh Local Enforcing Authorities and numerous other organisations to set up the Wales Dog Safety Partnership (WDSP), which was formally launched in January of this year.

Building on this, the CWU are meeting with Police Forces in Wales in July and has met with academic researchers from Swansea & Cardiff University who are keen to enter into a Dog Safety Partnership with the union and others to promote both education and awareness on the dog attack risk issue in South Wales.

• Animal Threat Level Assessment System (ATLAS)

In 2019, the Animal Threat Level Assessment System (ATLAS) was set up through joint work in the Merseyside area with the CWU and Merseyside Dog Safety Partnership (MDSP).

The ATLAS system is designed to build on the current Royal Mail Group Risk Assessment process, which actively encourages the engagement of both Council Dog Wardens and the Police and aims to improve the reporting of near-miss and pre-bite events with dangerous dogs between these enforcement agencies.

Summary of ATLAS

• The ATLAS poster with a QR code is displayed in the workplace and members simply scan the code to access a short form to report a concern about a dangerous dog.
• Once the form is completed, it is automatically sent to the relevant CWU Area Safety Rep who has agreed to manage ATLAS within the region or area, who then forwards it to the relevant Council Authority or Police Force.
• This should then result in the Council’s animal Technical Officer (or Dog Warden) responding to an animal hazard within 24 hours of receipt of a copy of the ATLAS.

A good example of the benefit of ATLAS can be highlighted by a particular and recent case, whereby a member raised a concern regarding the risk of fingers being bitten through the letterbox at a property.  An ATLAS report was submitted on Tuesday, actioned on Wednesday and by Friday, the householder had fitted an external letterbox.

Whilst speedy outcomes like this do require the full cooperation of the public since its recent launch in Wales, there have been over 80 ATLAS reports submitted by members in 2 months, resulting in numerous Council interventions and 2 Police Force interventions.

• Service Level Agreement (Police/RMG/CWU)

This month saw further progress on our in-principle pledges for Service Level Agreement (SLA) partnerships with the Lancashire Police & Cheshire Police Force, RMG and the CWU.

SLAs aim to build trust in postal workers to have confidence in the police that any dog attack incident will be taken seriously with individual concerns listened to and that action taken shall be quick, to ensure the safety of themselves and the wider community.

These agreements are drawn up to assist both postal workers and the Police to deal with such incidents in a balanced and prompt manner, allowing early preventative measures without unnecessary prosecution, avoiding future more serious incidents, whilst holding serious or repeat offenders to account.

This Service Level Agreement now reached reflects the wider RMG and CWU commitment to establish as many SLAs with Police Forces across the UK and to promote partnership with CWU ASRs and RMG SHE Teams, so they can utilise all processes available to tackle irresponsible dog ownership.

In setting out the above and to help promote these activities and wider take-up across the whole union, any Branch or Safety Forum seeking more details on these initiatives are invited to contact the DGS(P) Department for more information.

Dog Attacks – Statistics March 2024 to 2025

In setting out the above and whilst recognising the ongoing work and activity, the facts remain that dog attacks have slightly increased from March 2024 to March of this year.  Reflecting, if necessary, that this continues to be a major safety hazard and concern for all our members who work on Deliveries, Collections and in Parcelforce.

The final attachment to this LTB is an Excel File which lists the dog attack figures by postcode and from 2013/14 to date.  The Excel File also includes information on increases and decreases in reported attacks per postcode during the same period.

With this year’s National Dog Awareness Week drawing to a close, it is right to place on record our thanks and appreciation to all our Reps, Branches and Safety Forums for their continuing work undertaken all year round in this vital area of seeking to reduce dog attacks and incidents on our members within Royal Mail and Parcelforce.

Any enquiries in relation to the content of this LTB should be addressed to the DGS(P) Department.

Yours sincerely,

Martin Walsh
Deputy General Secretary (Postal)     

LTB 130-25 – RMG-CWU National Dog Awareness Week (DAW) – 30th June to 6th July 2025 Further Activities and Throughout the Year

Attachment 1 – RMtv Plasma Screens

Attachment 4 – Copy of Dog Attacks by Postcode

View Online