By the late 1990s occupational injury levels within Royal Mail were causing concern. This was reflected in financial, as well as human, cost. "As far back as 1997," Dave Joyce, national health, safety and environment officer for the Communication Workers Union (CWU), recalls, "accidents were costing Royal Mail about ￡70 million a year. This rose to ￡80 million in 2004. Successful claims made our legal department self-financing."rnSlips and trips were, and still are, major hazards especially among staff delivering letters. At the time, overweight delivery pouches (the "sacks" carried by postmen and postwomen on their rounds) accounted for a high proportion of musculoskeletal injuries (MSDs), and then there were the dog attacks on delivery staff. The CWU estimates between five to six thousand Royal Mail workers are attacked by dogs each year.
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