The business scenario has changed a lot since companies started delivering food or parcels directly to customers' homes. The home delivery service has been fruitful in many ways. Now, customers can buy anything from anywhere and get it at their home without facing any trouble. However, this has caused many problems for the delivery persons. According to reports, delivery persons mostly face the problem of dog bites. It has been proven that nearly 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs in a year. And the delivery persons have been the ones who have faced this.
E-commerce companies have also said that they get reports of dog-biting their employees now and then. Now, this has become a huge problem for e-commerce companies and delivery agents. At this time, legal initiatives are the only thing that can be helpful. Let’s understand a few more aspects of this -
How Dog-biting is a Risk for Businesses?
Dog bite incidents are becoming common these days. As per the reports, 5300 dogs have attacked the delivery agents only in 2023 in the United States. When something like this occurs, employees do not get to work, the load increases, and companies fail to provide the services. Regarding dog bites, the insurance cost is going higher and there are even legal battles, which have made the whole scenario quite problematic. If an e-commerce company faces things like this consecutively, then it will definitely make an impact on the company and its services.
What Prevention a Company Must Take?
As the problem is rising, companies need to take a few effective measures. If the right action is not taken at the right time, then the problem will increase more and make things even more difficult for the employees of e-commerce companies. To avoid this kind of situation in the future, a few actions can be helpful. Some of them are -
1. Employee Training:
A company should offer employee training to avoid this kind of situation. If the employee has the training to identify aggressive dogs, then it can be a little helpful. This way, they will not go any further to deliver the food or parcel. Along with that, if they face any problem regarding this, then should be able to contact the customer and aware them of the situation. By using such a feature, they will not get bitten by a dog.
2. Useful Equipment:
Companies should offer the ideal equipment to their delivery agents. Such as air horns, repellent sprays for dogs, or protective gear. They need to be provided something, so they can save their lives. These are a few things that can be used when the pet dog is about to attack. Otherwise, there will not be any improvement in this scenario.
3. Legal Support:
In most cases, it is seen that companies do not take responsibility when their employees are bitten by a dog at the time of delivery. This makes it quite difficult for all the delivery agents. The medical expenses can be huge at this time. So, if they do not a legal support for medications and medical insurance, then they will not be able to get the proper treatments. Companies should arrange for some legal support for their employees.
4. Customer Notification:
For home deliveries, there should be a customer notification. This way, delivery agents will be able to send a notification regarding the delivery and provide the actual time and the details. Therefore, pet owners will be more informed and get the opportunity to keep their dogs away from the delivery agent. This can be a useful strategy.
Implementing the right measures can help to control the whole dog biting situation. It can help companies to take care of their employees and grow the company seamlessly.
