 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Postal Service aims for safety
By MARCUS FRANKLIN
There is a sprinkler head that juts inconspicuously from the front lawn of an 18th Street house, an obstacle that Annie Przetocki, a 17-year U.S. Postal Service veteran, must remember to step around. And don't even mention the speeding cars, the dogs dying to get beyond fences and doors, or the short, spaced bushes along one family's sidewalk, laced with cords of lights at Christmas. To save time, Przetocki usually cuts through the bushes to get to the house next door. "I walk through here everyday, and they don't even think twice about putting lights there. And there I go flying," Przetocki, 48, said Friday as she moved swiftly along her route. "(Mail recipients) don't take us into consideration. If they could, they would get their mail by osmosis." Such hazards have St. Petersburg Postal Service officials urging residents and business owners to make their properties safer for the city's 500 letter carriers. For a week now, letter carriers have been stuffing fliers in mailboxes asking residents to repair broken sprinkler heads, restrain pets, fill in grass-covered holes, trim low-hanging branches, clear mailboxes of insects and clean sidewalks to prevent slippery mold and mildew. "We are trying to keep our employees safe and cut down on accidents," said Sue Harton, a spokeswoman for the local Postal Service. "All of us have a responsibility to inspect our yards for those things." During the Postal Service's 2002 fiscal year, which begins in September, 42 carriers in St. Petersburg slipped, tripped or fell, and 33 were bitten by dogs, Harton said. In 2001, there were 47 slips, trips and falls and 19 dog bites. So far this fiscal year there have been 12 such accidents and 11 dog bites. On Good Friday in 1989, Przetocki, was mauled -- bitten 20 times -- by a golden retriever. Her injuries kept her out of work for a week. Przetocki, who said she loves the job that keeps her outdoors despite its dangers, spent the following two months indoors answering phones for the Postal Service. She also saw a psychiatrist. "I think it's good that they're concerned about our safety," she said of the Postal Service. But O.D. Elliott, president of the West Coast Florida Letter Carriers, Branch 1477, which has 1,200 members, said the precautions listed on the flier "are common sense items that people should be doing anyway for their own protection, as well as the protection of neighbors and kids and anyone who might be coming onto their property." "I'm more concerned about carriers working after dark and many carriers being required to work 10 to 12 hours a day who haven't had a day off in months. This probably contributes to some of the slips, trips and falls. They're simply overworked. It's a very physically demanding job. "It may help some," he added. "If it helps, it's great."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times South Pinellas desks |
