Dogs can pose a workplace hazard to your meter readers, service technicians, line workers and other employees. Employees need to know the potential dangers associated with dogs, and companies should effectively train their field personnel on tactics to stay safe.
Mitigating employee risk by alerting them to the dangers of dog interaction has become even more important as the percentage of households with dogs is much higher since the pandemic began, due to lockdowns, working from home and kids not in school.
Thousands of natural gas employees are attacked by dogs each year, and most employees are never trained on how to avoid or prevent dangerous encounters.
We all grew up with dogs or had family members who had dogs, so we all should know what to do, right? Not exactly. In fact, much of the information out there is incorrect. Dogs are often humanized in film and television, and even canine experts can share false information.
Dogs have a combination of five canine drives. Some canine drives can make dogs appear like us, but that is where we as humans fail our best friends. How a dog reacts to each situation will depend on the interaction of one or more of their following drives:
Obviously, dogs are here to stay. Effective training is the key to help employees understand these drives and mitigate hazards.
Employees should remember the most important safety precautions when working around all dogs.
Employees most often tell me they are attacked by little dogs. Any dog bite, small or large, can be dangerous if you ignore it.
I am aware of a incident where a worker ignored a bite from a 7-pound Dachshund. He continued with his route, knowing he had been bitten on the back of his ankle. Later that day, he lost consciousness in his work truck. Another employee found him, and he was rushed to the hospital. Emergency room doctors cut off his clothes down to his knees. They were unaware of the dog bite because the worker had not told anyone, and the doctors were unable to save his life. When they removed the rest of his clothing, the dog bite was found on the back ankle. Bloodwork was requested, and the results showed that bacteria from the dog’s mouth had gotten into his bloodstream, then clotted. That clot went to his heart, causing a fatal heart attack. The employee was just 27 years old.
In every instance, employees should report a dog bite where skin is broken, and they should be treated, even if the treatment is self-administered. Other individuals, including a supervisor, should be alerted in case a medical emergency arises.
Utility employees going to a home could experience a variety of issues with the dogs they encounter. Dogs react differently to every person coming to the home, and one worker’s positive experience with a dog does not mean every employee will have the same. While employees tend to be afraid of and have issues with certain breeds, every dog is different. Regardless of breed, you need to be aware of your surroundings and practice safe behaviors as you can never tell how a dog will behave or react.
Training, education and behavior modification are the keys to occupational dog bite safety. Once your employees know the facts and see for themselves what a dog can really do, they can be more confident that their behaviors around dogs will keep them safe.