MCKINNEY, Texas (KTVT) – A Teamsters union is demanding answers after a video shows a UPS driver losing control, nearly crossing into oncoming traffic and hitting a tree in what is believed to be a heat stroke incident.
A driver used his cellphone to film a UPS delivery truck speeding into oncoming traffic in McKinney, Texas, on Friday, narrowly avoiding a red car and crashing into trees. According to the UPS drivers’ union Teamsters Local 767, he was suffering from heat-related illness when he lost control.
“Unfortunately, during the journey he succumbed to his heat-related injuries and passed out at the wheel,” said David Reeves, the union’s chief representative.
The union says the driver, who lives in the Longview area, was asked to help out on Friday. He left from the UPS branch in McKinney. He left around noon, but after a few hours he began vomiting and feeling sick due to the heat.
“Then he had to tell the supervisor that he could no longer do his work for that day,” Reeves said.
The driver’s manager then told him to drive the truck back to the facility, according to the union. They say that violated UPS’s heat safety protocols and the manager should have called 911.
“UPS needs to take responsibility for this and fire these drivers. They need to be held accountable, frankly, for the safety of drivers and the public,” Reeves said.
The driver was taken to hospital but is now recovering at home.
UPS says the company is concerned about the driver’s well-being and will work with authorities to investigate the incident.
The company says it spends more than $400 million annually on safety training and has taken a variety of measures to protect against heat, including purchasing additional cooling equipment in facilities and vehicles, equipping employees with special cooling gear and providing ice and water.
Local 767 also said UPS promised that all new vehicles purchased in its jurisdiction this year would be equipped with air conditioning. As far as the union knows, none of them have been equipped with air conditioning yet.
“This is unacceptable,” Reeves said. “UPS needs to continue to focus on taking care of its people, not its packages. That is our message.”
Just last summer, Eugune Gates Jr., a U.S. Postal Service driver from Dallas, died of heat-related illness while delivering mail on a scorching June day.
“They run a multi-billion dollar industry and don’t care about the welfare of their employees,” said his widow, Carla Gates.
The union hopes to work with UPS to find solutions to ensure no one else is injured at work.
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