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CWU In Partnership With Royal Mail And Merseyside Police Launch Dangerous Dogs Initiative Following the successful national CWU Bites Back campaign to change the Dangerous Dogs law and to educate the public; within the North West there has been much support in the public domain via local media giving the issues and remedies publicity.
The forum discussed the lack of the sharing of information over violence to staff from Dangerous Dogs by employers. One example given was that of the case of a district Nurse on Merseyside having been attacked by a dog. Whilst this incident was known to Royal Mail, there is no apparent system in place to share such information with other agencies and employers. Merseyside Police are supportive of a move to introducing such a system and are in contact with the CWU Postal branch Merseyside Amal. In BT there is concern from the Union over the current system of High Risk Areas. A meeting with BT has been arranged for the end of this month, where the issues will be discussed. Further Dog events in Merseyside have been very successful with an excellent response form the public. Forum member, Jamie McGovern of Merseyside Amal branch, has been involved in these Dangerous Dog Days events and has also recently given a very good power point presentation on the issues entitled GREATER MERSEYSIDE DOG ROADSHOW EVENTS 2014. These successful events have been part of a joint venture between the CWU Merseyside Amal Branch, Royal Mail, and Merseyside Police. In his PowerPoint presentation, Jamie, focuces on a shocking news report from the Liverpool Echo published 3rd June 2014 with the following headline: 'Eaten Alive': Two women jailed for 12 months after their dog killed Liverpool pensioner Clifford Clarke The Dog had not been fed for 45 hours, but pair avoid recent change in law that could have seen them jailed for 14 years! In an initiative between the CWU Postal branch Merseyside Amal, Royal Mail and Merseyside Police; a Joint Working Group was set up between the three bodies in order to discuss and plan ways of tackling the issues created by dangerous dogs . In particular the above attack on Clifford Clarke was the catalyst for Merseyside police wanting to adopt a more pro active approach. The list of attendees at the original meeting with Merseyside Police, showed the commitment and urgency with which the various bodies saw the need to tackle this 3escalating problem in Merseyside:
That first meeting concluded with the following process identified as the best proactive approach: * In Liverpool we now extract and send ALL dog hazards from all WRAP files in Liverpool D.O’s to Merseyside Police (this was by request of Merseyside police) Permission was granted from Area safety advisor in respect of data protection. * Police and PCSO’s target the addresses we have identified on WRAP with leaflet drops offering the dog owners a free dog micro chipping service and details of the next available dog micro chipping event and its location. * At the dog micro chipping event a local CWU or Area CWU H&S rep will attend to support the event. Other measures decided upon where: * A dangerous dogs insert which identifies the banned breeds was compiled after consultation with Merseyside Police in Knowsley . The police made a request that postal staff on delivery remain vigilant and report any suspected banned breeds identified by the photographs on the document. (Hence it’s inclusion in walk logs). A supporting letter was sent to all addresses identified as having a Dog Hazard. * The introduction of a postal workers dangerous dog insert for the 'Walk Log' used by delivery staff Banned breads named in the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act and included in the postal workers Walk Log insert are: Page 3 of the Walk Log identifies the banned breeds and includes photos of them: The Dogo Argentino is a large, white, muscular dog that was developed in Argentina primarily for the purpose of big-game hunting, including wild boar and puma;
The American Pit Bull Terrier is a medium-sized, solidly built, short haired dog . The dog was bred first to bait bulls and bears.
A very successful Dog Chipping event took place as a result of the decisions taken by the Joint Working Party. The event was run with the PDSA who provided visiting dog owners information leaflets about the process of having their dog microchipped. Source: Unionsafety / Jamie McGovern |
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At the last meeting of the CWU’s NW Health and Safety Forum, earlier this month it was reported that further Dog events in Merseyside have been very successful with an excellent response form the public. 
Dave Joyce (CWU national H&S officer)
The Fila Brasileiro also known as the Brazilian Mastiff is a large working breed of dog developed in Brazil. It is known for its superb tracking ability, aggressiveness and an unforgiving impetuous temperament.
The Japanese Tosa is a breed of dog of Japanese origin that is considered rare. It was originally bred in Tosa as a fighting dog and still is today.