A postie's job is not a happy one

[MotherBear]

[b:b1e1c6de72]Being a postie a dangerous job [/b:b1e1c6de72]
13 December 2005
By HAMISH STUART

As if rain, hail, sleet and snow weren't enough, Timaru postal workers have to contend with dangerous letterboxes and other hazards to make sure the mail gets through. NZ Post statistics show one NZ postie is injured every one hour and six minutes in the line of duty, Timaru Mail Centre coordinator Neil Mattingley said.

"Quite a few of our staff do get injured. They are cycling 25 kilometres a day, six days a week. We are really pro-active with health and safety," he said.

On one occasion, a postal worker had the ends of her fingers torn off by a spring-loaded cover of a letter slot as she delivered a letter while riding past. Earlier this year, a postie was lucky to evade a rampaging pig on Coonoor Road.

The traditional enemy of the postal worker, the dog, had become less of a problem, due to the rapid and efficient responses by the council dog control officers, Mr Mattingley said. It was not uncommon for posties to be knocked off their bikes by untended or overgrown trees and shrubs when making their deliveries, Mr Mattingley said. People using the postal service could do something to help the situation.

"We ask that people cut back any overhanging branches from around their letterboxes, to make it safer for our guys to get to them," he said.

Problem postbox holders were sent letters asking them to trim back their plants. If the problem persisted, the postal service would place the offending property on a black list and not deliver their mail any more.

"They then have to come and pick up their mail from the post office. But that is only done as a last resort," Mr Mattingley said.

[selchie]

What has the world come to when rogue trees and shrubberies can assault posties without provocation? :icon_biggrin: ...Seriously, it's nice to know that the postal service works to reduce the hazards to its workers.

[MotherBear]

[b:f30fe629fe]Careless drivers plague posties [/b:f30fe629fe]
11 February 2006
By MIKE STEERE

Reversing cars have replaced flesh-hungry dogs as the biggest threat to posties. Christchurch posties are urging people to look out as they come out of driveways after a recent spate of posties being knocked off their bicycles.

New Zealand Post Canterbury-West Coast delivery manager Duncan Burmansaid he knew of 10 recent accidents in which posties had been struck by vehicles. "We have had a lot of cuts and bruises. We are lucky in that no-one has been seriously injured, but it's only a matter of time," he said. Burman hoped people would keep a closer eye out, and said it was up to drivers to be more cautious. "It's one of the hardest ones to fix ? it's a matter of changing the behaviours of the public." He said hazards facing posties included hanging foliage, the strain of large parcels and stretching out to hard-to-reach letterboxes and, to a lesser extent now, dogs.

Sockburn postie Shae Griffin knows about the danger of footpaths after she was struck by a car a fortnight ago. The 30-year-old was delivering on Aotea Road when a car appeared suddenly from a driveway. "The back end of the car hit the front of my bike and it caught me up and dragged me along. I was extremely lucky. But it worries you a bit because there is nothing you can do." She said drivers needed to look out not just for posties, but for all footpath users. "If something like that happens to someone who is bright red and yellow, what would happen to a small child?"

Canterbury road policing manager Inspector Derek Erasmus warned drivers if they hit someone on the footpath they could be liable for the accident. "Footpaths are defined as a road, so backing or driving across them ? you have to be very careful."

[img:f30fe629fe]http://www.movetonz.org/pics/motherbear_0,1445,223202,00.jpg[/img:f30fe629fe]