A local union is calling on UPS to make changes after a driver passed out from what union leaders say was heat exhaustion and crashed into a tree while driving Friday afternoon.
Teamsters Local Union 767 said the man was driving on Highway 121 from Longview to McKinney when he began experiencing heat related symptoms and called in for assistance but was told to keep driving himself to the facility. National Weather Service data shows temperatures in the area reached 102 degrees that day.
Union representatives later shared a video showing the UPS package car driving towards oncoming traffic and barely avoiding another car before colliding with a tree.
According to the union, the driver was sent to the hospital after the accident and released on Saturday.
“The company once again did not follow their own [company] guidelines and asked the driver to drive himself in,” union officials said on social media. “The company continues to place packages over people.”
UPS said in a statement it’s working with authorities to investigate the crash.
“We are aware of an incident involving our driver in Texas,” the company said. “We care deeply about his safety and well-being.”
The Anna Police Department has not confirmed whether it is investigating and hasn’t released any additional details.
Friday’s accident happened less than a year after a McKinney-based UPS delivery driver died from heat stress while delivering packages on his route.
Christopher Begley, a UPS veteran of nearly 30 years, was making deliveries in Farmersville when he passed out at a customer’s home. It was over 100 degrees outside that day.
A UPS spokesperson told WFAA Begley reached out to a supervisor afterwards, and the supervisor made sure he had water and was resting in a cool environment. The spokesperson also said Begley denied medical attention multiple times before taken home. He was later hospitalized and died four days later.
The Occupational Safety & Health Administration fined the UPS facility more than $60,000 after confirming heat stress was the cause of death and found the facility didn’t have anyone trained to provide first aid or ensure medical treatment was available.
In late May, UPS said it had “increased their investment in safety training last year, including offering cooling gear to workers. The company said it also equipped some delivery vehicles with cab fans, forced air induction systems, and exhaust heat shields to reduce floor temperature.
The new initiatives came after UPS and the Teamsters union reached an agreement about vehicle heat safety last year.
But while UPS has made upgrades to many of its package vehicles, it hasn’t installed air conditioning despite agreeing to equip new vehicles with AC at the start of this year.
“We will continue to purchase and deploy new vehicles with AC as quickly as possible,” a UPS spokesperson said in an email to KERA. “While the replacement cycle runs its course, we’ve been focused on completing important modifications to our existing delivery vehicles to improve airflow, temperature, and comfort for our drivers.”
Heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the U.S. Last summer, Dallas-Fort Worth had 55 days of temperatures at or above 100 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
North Texas is expected to see more triple digit heat this week.
Penelope Rivera is KERA’s news intern. Got a tip? Email Penelope at privera@kera.org.
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