USPS found to be at fault in Missouri mailman’s heat death in 2012
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — When a mail carrier died on the job, his wife blamed the Post Office for not taking his concerns about excessive heat seriously. The widow finally has closure two years after his death.
All Kay Watzlawick has of her husband John are memories. They would’ve been married 35 years this year and she remembers him fondly, even when recounting disagreements.
John Watzlawick was a devoted mail carrier of 28 years. He died delivering mail on a blistering hot day in July 2012.
“One death is too many from this because it could’ve been prevented,” Watzlawick said.
Here’s the full statement OSHA provided on Thursday afternoon:
Administrative Law Judge Peggy Ball has upheld the willful citation issued to the U.S. Postal Service Truman Station in Independence, Mo., by U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration following the July 2012 death of a mail carrier[link added by PR]. The mail carrier developed heat-related illness symptoms, collapsed while working his route and was taken to the hospital where he died as a result of his exposure to excessive heat. The Postal Service will pay a penalty of $70,000.
“The court found that the message to employees from top management down to supervisors was clear –heat is not an excuse for poor performance. This culture must change,” said Barbara Theriot, OSHA’s area director in Kansas City. “If the postal service had trained workers in recognizing the symptoms of heat stroke, and taken precautions to ensure workers had access to water, rest and shade, this unfortunate incident may have been avoided. This ruling underscores the need for employers to take proactive steps to keep workers safe in extreme heat.”
The willful violation addressed the hazard of multiple employees who were required to work during periods when excessive heat advisories and warnings were issued by the National Weather Service. An OSHA investigation found that the postal service did not have procedures in place to address worker concerns during times of excessive heat.
The Postal Service contested the citation when it was issued in December 2012
USPS found to be at fault in metro mailman’s heat death from 2012
All this mans life was worth due to the ignorance and stupidity of the USPS and the idiots they have running the place was $ 70,00.00??? Shame on OSHO, shame on the USPS and I truly would wish that his family woule/could sue the crap out of these morons…
When is enough…enough?????
All of our carriers need to know the risks associated with carrying in extreme hot and cold. Management is not even reading all of the safety talks upper mgmt gives them.
We know that a few people in Kansas will be promoted to higher level pay grade. When management screws up, they are promoted! If you are just a worthless worker and don’t scan a parcel on your day off, you are disciplined. That is just the way it is in Postal operations.
The widow will have to pursue a workers comp claim because her husband’s injury and death were in the performance of duty, much like a member of the military. The law actually bars her law suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Her exclusive remedy is workers comp. The law is what it is, at least until it is changed.
In Houston we been begging for a/c in the vehicles since they put heaters for the carriers up north and down which we dont use down here.
Dead on Chuck
how about AC in the LLV’s and all curbside? nope….. never mind- the NALC will fight it because it will start messing with their union dues…. instead they will allow us to work in extreme conditions and then have to fight management when a carrier is late due to weather. How about hazardous pay when the temp gets to a certain high temp or below a certain cold temp? nope…. never mind- that would probably affect the number of CCA’s the PO would then agree to hire so the union would roll over in the name of money again
70,000 dollars, for a man’s life? I know OSHA has limits for their fines but 70 grand is a drop in the bucket to the morons running the P.O.. As far as changing the culture of the people running the show, forget about it. They’re a power apoun themselves. They could care less about carriers or any other employee dying. As long as they get their bonus at the end of the year, they could care less about the blood on the money. I think all of us know of many instances where bosses sent employees in to harms way. Hurricanes, blizzards, heat,cold, and every other kind of dangerous situation. All they care about is not having some boss bigger than them yelling at them or denying them their bonus. It’s as simple as that.
70k is a drop in the bucket. They are more worried about the possible law suit coming their way.
Also, you know, the fine will never be paid anyway.
Well, well.
In addition to thieves, lairs, and crooks, postal mgmt. can now add murderers to their list of traits too.
All mgmt. involved should be charged.
Of course, we all know, there will be no accountability for their actions.
Scum.
Thats ok, our managers turned the ac off during the summer when it was 110 outside. They told us ” u can complain but it wont go far because your used to working in the heat”. We had two heat related injuries and they still didnt care.
it just proves that these mthrfkrs dont care 1 bit about the carriers!
Now I would love to see some of the fat, bloated, incompetent carrier supervisors go out there & carry Mail on a normal day let alone a hot day! I’m happy to hear this widow finally has closure.
Monitoring and preventing heat stroke for carriers is not part of the Performance Bonus Matrix and therefore can be safely ignored; however, delivery times, overtime, etc is, so get out there and deliver the damn mail;