Rank: Forum user 
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Hi Learned friends I am presuming this is more to the postal or service industry or anyone really who has staff visiting private premises. Just to understand better what do people have in place and what do they consider when looking into the hazard of being bitten by a dog or what to put in place if someone was bitten. Just understanding and pooling ideas at moment any advice appreciated. Alan
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Rank: Super forum user
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When I was looking after agricultural inspectors the issue of dogs often came up. The policy we agreed upon was basically the following: - Dogs are a hazard and we as an employer will not allow our staff to be exposed to a risk from dogs. Any sort of dog bite was unacceptable.
- Although staff had certain duties to carry out, they we not expected to put themselves at risk to get the job done.
- When they entered or approached a property they were told that if there were dogs running free they had to contact the occupier(by phone) get them to get the dogs under control ie chained up or locked up.
- We had leverage that if we were prevented from entering a property we could take some action, basically not inspecting the property which would have consequences for the occupier.
Edited by user 07 January 2020 16:19:31(UTC)
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 1 user thanked A Kurdziel for this useful post.
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Rank: Forum user
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Thanks for that much appreciated that makes sense, I am presuming this is done through a risk assessment and measures applied. Its not something i had ever come into contact with until now and from what i can see on goverment website it is taken quite seriosly including possible prison sentences etc. https://www.gov.uk/control-dog-public
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Rank: Super forum user
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Yes it is down to risk assessment. We have similar arrangements to A Kurdizel above. My colleagues are all instructed not to enter or to leave a premises if there are dogs present and they do not feel comfortable. Some of them have powers of entry so if they are prevented from entering by a dog the occupier could be charged with obstruction. For other’s they want the person there and so if they don’t keep their dog under control they have no chance of getting what they want. Before I started in my current role “post pegs” were also introduced for where doorstep mail deliveries were undertaken. I believe the post office use similar there are images on the internet. Basically keeps you finger away from the letter box if there is a snappy box behind. My father in law used to be a post man many years ago and had a technique which was where there was a snappy dog behind the letterbox he would put the latter partly through then draw it back. Having done this a few times the dog would have basically shredded the letter. Said he soon found people kept their dogs under control! Not sure he would get away with that today!
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4 users thanked HSSnail for this useful post.
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spud on 07/01/2020(UTC), Kate on 07/01/2020(UTC), Gasman on 09/01/2020(UTC), toe on 09/01/2020(UTC)
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Rank: Super forum user
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a proper dynamic risk assessment in fact
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1 user thanked A Kurdziel for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Alan, further to the previous replies when I worked in the gas industry dealing with meter readers we considered purchasing ultrasonic dog deterrents.
However, our legal bods advised against it as they were worried that staff already nervous of dogs would zap any dog in sight causing it to run into the road in the path of a school bus which would then plough into pedestrians at a bus stop...you get the picture!
I remember one other device the we looked at from the US which was an automatic brightly coloured umbrella where the theory was that it would scare the dog when opened suddenly. We discounted this from the outset as we believed that the UK dogs would laugh in disdain before chewing up the brolly & then turning their attention to our employee!
The procedure for any dog bites was for the person to visit A&E to assess if treatment was necessary & if their jabs were up to date.
Brian's post brought back memories of my newspaper boy days where I used exactly the same method of getting the dog to shred the paper to stop it pouncing at the letter box in an attempt to have my fingers for lunch.
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1 user thanked Zyggy for this useful post.
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Rank: Forum user
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Thanks for all the helpful information thus far and just to clarify this is more for engineers turning up to sites both private or commercial with dogs roaming free on the grounds.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Why would dogs be roaming around a commercial site? Are they guard dogs? If so they are subject to the requirements of the Guard Dogs Act 1975 see https://allaboutuklaw.co.uk/guard-dogs/ for more information. If your guys ( and gals) are engineers coming on site to fix things then you can simply make it clear to customers if that are dogs about which are not under control, you don’t turn up to fix things. That’s your leverage.
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Rank: Super forum user
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If it is a major issue, I would suggest some training/guidelines on how to read and approach dogs. They are territorial animals, and therefore will defend their territory against perceived attacks/intrusions. There are ways to lessen the chances of attack. I would suggest the Royal Mail as a source of information, they have a training video amongst other things. After all, dogs love postmen, preferably lightly salted and tender.
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1 user thanked biker1 for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Agree with the comments above about guard dog’s whole
different ball game than the average family snappy pet – and they can be bad
enough I know.
Have used an electronic gadget which I think will be similar
to those Zyggy mentioned. Mine was a Dazzer – supplied through the local
authority dog warden. I could just faintly detect when I used it a very high
pitch wine (was much younger then hearing probably not as good now!) and it was
great, but I only used it when I felt threatened – i.e a dog was coming running
at me barking etc. However we were warned when they were supplied that a
trained dog – such as a police dog or some guard dogs would not respond as
their training would override their natural response.
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Rank: Super forum user
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1 user thanked A Kurdziel for this useful post.
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