A union representing UPS workers in Texas says a heat-related illness caused a driver to pass out behind the wheel of a company truck last week in McKinney, Texas.
Teamsters Local 767 said the driver survived a crash after losing consciousness at the wheel. The driver was released from the hospital, the union said.
"The company continues to place packages over people," the union said in a Facebook post. "This is the third incident in the McKinney building alone. Do not trust the company to do the right thing for your health and safety."
According to the National Weather Service, McKinney reached a high of 101 degrees on Friday.
RELATED STORY | OSHA proposal aims to protect workers from extreme heat
In 2023, UPS announced it reached an agreement with Teamsters to provide air conditioning in all newly purchased small package delivery vehicles starting in 2024. This was considered a big win for UPS drivers. A change.org petition started in 2018 had over 1 million signatures urging UPS to install air conditioning in delivery trucks.
UPS said it has also agreed to other measures to help keep drivers in non-air-conditioned trucks cool. The shipping company said last year it would install additional cab fans in vehicles without air conditioning. Exhaust heat shields and a new intake system that brings in fresh air from the outside would also be retrofitted into existing vehicles.
On Tuesday, UPS provided the following update:
We are on plan or ahead of schedule on all our contractual commitments and have hundreds of vehicles with AC operating on the roads today.
The agreement with the Teamsters included equipping all new vehicles purchased after January 1, 2024, with AC and making modifications to our existing package cars to improve airflow, temperature, and comfort for our drivers. We will continue to purchase and deploy new vehicles with AC as quickly as possible. We have also equipped the vast majority of our vehicles with heat shields and enhanced air intakes to better cool and ventilate the cargo area.
Here’s a summary of our additional efforts to help keep our people safe:
- We’re investing more than $409 million annually on safety training in the U.S., and continually enhance our heat safety training, outfit workers with specialized cooling gear, and add equipment to our vehicles and facilities that helps protect our people from the heat.
- We regularly train and communicate on Recharge, our health and safety program that was developed in partnership with experts in athletic hydration and heat-safety. As part of the program, we regularly share follow-up training and reminders about the importance of:
- Getting proper rest and taking care of yourself before and after work.
- Eating water-rich foods and hydrating throughout the day.
- Taking additional breaks whenever needed.
- Knowing the signs and symptoms of heat illness.
- We partnered with experts from the Gatorade Sports Science Institute and the Korey Stringer Institute at the University of Connecticut to study various working conditions and further improve our training to help our employees work safely – especially on hot days.
- We also partnered with MISSION®, a major activewear company that specializes in cooling fabrics and have distributed more than 440,000 pieces of specialized cooling gear for our drivers and inside staff.
- We’ve supplied over 96,000 water jugs to drivers across the U.S. to help them stay hydrated, and all employees have access to cool, fresh water and ice in our facilities.
- We’ve installed an additional 1,500 ice machines and 1,700 water fountains in our facilities, and nearly 14,000 additional fans.
- We’ve installed over 200,000 fans in our package cars.
- We’ve equipped over 76,000 delivery vehicles with exhaust heat shields. These heat shields can reduce the vehicle floor temperature by up to 17 degrees F, according to preliminary tests.
- We have equipped over 74,000 vehicles with air scoop induction technology to feed fresh air to the cargo bay, providing additional cooling comfort to our drivers.
In 2019, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined UPS $13,260 after an employee suffered heat-related injuries near its Riviera Beach, Florida, facility. OSHA said the driver became ill after the heat index exceeded 99 degrees.
RELATED STORY | UPS vehicles could soon be equipped with air conditioning
Last week's incident occurred nearly a year after a Texas man reportedly died from extreme heat after driving a UPS truck. Chris Begley's widow Neysa Lambeth told KTVT-TV that not enough has changed in the last year.
"I spent the entire day yesterday bawling my eyes out. I couldn't believe it was happening again," she told the station.
"The feedback I've received from some of the drivers has said nothing changed," she added. "It's got to change. These guys are dying. And families are going through what I've been through in the past year and it's horrific."
UPS issued a statement to Scripps News.
"We are aware of an incident involving our driver in McKinney, TX. We care deeply about his safety and well-being. We can confirm the driver received minor medical treatment and went home. We continue to work with authorities to investigate and defer to them for questions," it said.
An agreement in 2023 between UPS and the Teamsters union was supposed to bring additional measures to keep drivers cool with air conditioning and other safety measures.
According to a local UPS driver that wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, however, claims otherwise.
The driver tells ABC15 that he's had close calls with heat exhaustion, having to pull over and get inside beer coolers at local gas stations to escape the heat from inside his delivery van.
The driver does say his van now has two fans per the agreement between the union and UPS, but also says not every van does.
In a statement, UPS says all new vehicles purchased during and after 2024 are equipped with air conditioning. UPS purchased two vans and two shifters in the Phoenix Metro equipped with A/C.
According to the local Teamsters union, there are 2,000 UPS drivers in the Valley, so an overwhelming number of vans are only equipped with fans and other cooling technologies.
