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OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND RISK PERCEPTION AMONG POSTAL DELIVERY WORKERS
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DOI：10.17270/J.LOG.001319.png)
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Abstract
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Background: In the modern global economy, postal and courier services serve as critical infrastructure, ensuring the uninterrupted flow of goods, documents, and communication across all segments of society. Despite their essential role, occupational safety in this sector remains an understudied and undervalued dimension within the broader discourse of workplace health and risk management. While technological interventions such as GPS tracking or drop boxes have reduced some vulnerabilities, they cannot fully eliminate human-centered threats such as verbal abuse, physical assault, or lack of emergency response in the case of incidents. Hence, there is a growing need for empirical research that focuses on comments by postal delivery workers themselves and explores their lived experiences with safety, threats, and institutional support. The present study seeks to fill this research gap by providing a comprehensive analysis of safety perceptions among postal delivery workers in Croatia. Methods: Based on a structured questionnaire administered to 157 delivery personnel employed by Croatian Post, the study evaluates a wide range of variables, including perceived threats (e.g., dog attacks, verbal threats, physical violence), situational risk factors (e.g., remote delivery areas, late-night deliveries), experience with security incidents, and attitudes toward protective measures and institutional responses. Results: By providing empirical insights into the Croatian context, this study also aims to contribute to the wider international discourse on logistics labor, frontline worker safety, and risk governance in public service delivery. This research invites a re-examination of delivery work not merely as a logistical function, but as a profession requiring targeted safety protocols, institutional support, and monitoring of frontline risks. It positions postal workers as agents whose insights are critical for shaping occupational safety strategies in a transforming delivery sector. Conclusions: By integrating empirical insights from workers themselves, this research contributes to the growing discourse on frontline labor safety in public service sectors. The findings underscore the urgency of developing evidence-based, worker-informed, and context-sensitive safety strategies to protect the health, dignity, and operational continuity of postal services in an increasingly demanding delivery environment.
Keywords:
postal delivery
safety perception
fieldwork risk
security incidents
logistics
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