The Royal Mail has launched Dog Awareness Week (15th-19th July) to raise awareness of dog attacks on Royal Mail's postmen and women, and appeal to dog owners to keep animals under control when the postman calls.

The Royal Mail says dog attacks are a significant hazard faced by postmen and women on a daily basis. Attacks rise during the school holidays and in the summer months when parents and children are at home and dogs are sometimes allowed unsupervised in the garden, or out onto the street without restraints.

Since April 2011, there have been over 5,500 attacks on Royal Mail postmen and women, some leading to a permanent disabling injury. Attacks have resulted in the loss of 4,100 working days due to injuries.

Whilst the number of attacks has fallen by 24% nationally since 2011, over 2,400 postmen and women were still attacked by dogs in the year ending April 2013.

Currently, legal protection against attacks by dogs does not extend 'beyond the garden gate'. This is a particular problem for postmen and women, who each visit hundreds of private addresses every day on their delivery rounds. The Royal Mail says it welcomes the Government's commitment to amend the previous legislation to ensure its postmen and women will be protected when they enter private property, including gardens.

Shaun Davis, Director of Health, Safety and Wellbeing for Royal Mail Group said: "For the first time, we are holding a Dog Awareness Week working with the CWU, animal charities and organisations to raise awareness of the problems our postmen and women face daily when they are delivering the mail.

"We are delighted to be supported by a wide range of organisations and animal charities including Dogs Trust, DEFRA, Blue Cross, Wood Green, and the Association of Dog Wardens.

"We have held a number of previous one day campaigns and the awareness of the issue of dog attacks is growing. Last year the number of dog attacks on our people fell. However there  were still over 2,400 incidents and we need to reduce this number further as even one dog attack on our people is one dog attack too many.

"Clearly most dogs are not inherently dangerous, however, even the most placid animal can be prone to attack if it feels its territory is being threatened. Our first priority as an employer is to ensure the welfare and safety of our people who provide a valuable service to our customers  and we appeal to owners to keep their pets under control, especially if they know their pets have a territorial nature."

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