Australia Post data has revealed more than 81,000 hazards were logged by posties in the past 12 months including dogs, low-hanging branches and obstructive trees, swooping birds, and insect nests in letterboxes.

NSW recorded the highest number of hazards at 20,000, closely followed by Victoria with 19,000, while the Northern Territory reported the least number of incidents.

The top hazard for workers remains unrestrained or aggressive dogs.

Other issues are low hanging tree branches, cracked footpaths and uneven surfaces, sharp and rusty letterboxes, and blind driveways.

Australia Post’s Executive General Manager Network Operations Rod Barnes said posties simply want to complete their deliveries safely without hitting their heads on low hanging tree branches or encountering aggressive dogs.

“The nature of the job requires our posties to be out and about every day so anything we can do to help keep our team safe and reduce risk is important,” he said in a statement on Monday.

The hazard reporting tool was rolled out to workers’ scanners a year ago to try and reduce injuries to workers who can log any issues faced while on delivery.

Hazards like an aggressive dog remain in the system so when a postie is out on another delivery they receive a notification to avoid it or take extra care.

Some of the issues, like badly cracked footpaths, will be raised with local councils. Customers will be spoken to about their aggressive dogs.