A SPIKE in Water Corporation employees being attacked by dogs while carrying out work at homes has led to a plea for owners to make sure their pets are properly secured.
Dog attacks and incidents where the animals behaved aggressively towards Water Corporation employees jumped to 44 last financial year (2016-17), up from 30 the year before (2015-16).
Water Corporation operations group general manager Mike Andrews said employees were often in suburban streets carrying out tasks such as reading meters and dog attacks were one of the biggest safety concerns of the job.
Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE
Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
READ NOW“Although we train our employees to read a dog’s body language and avoid aggressive dogs wherever possible, attacks from unrestrained dogs are unfortunately occurring more often, and tend to increase as the weather warms up,” he said.
“We have had cases where our employees are requiring stitches due to dog bites or being so distressed that they have been unable to return to field work.
“Residents can help us keep our employees safe by ensuring they have adequate fencing and gates to keep dogs from escaping.”
Mr Andrews said with the weather warming up it was a good time for residents who were doing some gardening to clear any weeds and bushes which may have grown over their water meter during winter.
There were 26 incidents south of the river and 18 incidents north of the river.
South of the River dog attacks/ threatening dogs: July 2016: Munster, Pinjarra, Furnissdale, Langford, Mandurah August 2016: Brent wood, Roleystone September 2016: Golden Bay, Success, Beckenham October 2016: Byford, Kewdale November: Burswood, Cloverdale, Spearwood December 2016: N/A January 2017: Port Kennedy, Kelmscott February 2017: Carlisle March 2017: Beaconsfield, Kelmscott, Halls Head April 2017: Halls Head, Coodanup, Como May 2017: Golden Day, Success June 2017: N/A
North of the river dog attacks/ threatening dogs: July 2016: Lockridge, Beechboro, Doubleview August 2016: Sorrento, Kinglsey Setember 2016: Maylands, Ashfield October 2016: N/A November 2016: N/A December 2016: Kingsley, Sorrento January 2017: Balga February 2017: Wembley Downs, Duncraig March 2017: Mount Lawley, Inglewood, Mirrabooka April 2017: N/A May; Lockridge, Leedervile, Doubleview June: N/A
MORE: Mobile phone lockers could be the key to curbing student addiction to smartphones
MORE: Surf Life Saving Western Australia reminds swimmers to stay between flags
