The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the death of a UPS driver days after suffering from extreme heat while working in Texas last week.
The driver, Christopher Begley, worked at UPS in McKinney, Texas and had been a driver for 28 years, according to Teamsters Local Union 767.
He was out working on Wednesday, Aug. 23 — a day when temperatures in the area reached 103 degrees — when he called management to report that he wasn’t feeling well, according to UPS.
UPS responded to the location and Begley, 57, declined medical attention multiple times, according to the company. UPS said Begley told them he had recovered and asked to be taken home.
He asked for a few days off, which UPS said it granted. On Sunday, the company said it received word he had been hospitalized, and on Monday, learned he had died.
“We are saddened by the loss of our driver Christopher Begley and extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends,” UPS said in a written statement. “We are cooperating with the authorities as they continue to investigate the cause of death.”
“We train our people to recognize the symptoms of heat stress, and we respond immediately to any request for help,” UPS said.
OSHA has started an investigation into Begley’s death, according to a U.S. Department of Labor spokesperson.
The familiar brown UPS delivery trucks are not air conditioned, and the company only this year agreed in labor negotiations for a new contract to equip new trucks with air conditioning starting with cars purchased next year.
In 2018, the wife of a UPS driver submitted an online petition to UPS management seeking air conditioning for the company’s package delivery trucks.
Last summer, news reports said the family of a UPS driver in Southern California believe he died from heat stroke, though a medical examiner cited sudden cardiac dysfunction as the cause.
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