After an NBC Bay Area investigation uncovered a policy that prevents most postal service employees from dialing 911 in an emergency, the union representing those employees has gotten involved.
The American Postal Workers union sent a letter to top postal service officials in Washington, DC, asking them to explain the rationale behind the policy that instruct employees “not to call 911 when a co-worker is in obvious need of medical care.”
USPS Policy May Have Caused Critical Delays in Life and Death Situation
In August, veteran postal service employee Sam Macasieb died at a postal processing center in West Oakland. His coworkers found him on the ground, bleeding from the mouth in urgent need of medical care. But instead of calling 911—they followed the protocol, which was to notify supervisors so they could call the on-site postal police officers and wait for them to notify 911.
It took up to 53 minutes between the time witnesses said they first saw Macasieb to the time the postal police called 911.
Archive: Several postal workers in Indiana immediately called 911 | Postal Worker with 35 years called “disgruntled” and “terrorist” for calling 911, he was later fired