Despite high profile deaths, ‘nothing has changed’ for USPS carriers working in heat

Federal investigators with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are looking into the death of a North Texas postal worker who collapsed last week while delivering mail in triple-digit temperatures in Little Elm.

The U.S. Postal Service has described the death of 58-year-old Umeshkumar Thakkar as “tragic,” but for labor representatives for Dallas-based letter carriers, summer fatalities have become a near-annual occurrence.

Kimetra Lewis, president of the Dallas chapter of the National Association of Letter Carriers, says that despite frequent public attention on the issue, little is actually being done to protect postal workers from the Texas heat. The union chapter did not represent Thakkar, but his death renewed organizers’ calls for better conditions for letter carriers. 

“There have not been any changes put in place since Eugene’s death,” said Lewis, referencing the Dallas postal worker, Eugene Gates, who died in 2023 of a heat-related illness after delivering mail on a day the heat index reached 113 degrees. “[The USPS has] their process that they claim that they’re going to do all this training, to ensure that letter carriers know in advance how to protect themselves. But that’s not working, and I can’t sit here and tell you that all letter carriers have gone through the training.” 

As of publication, a cause of death for Thakkar had not been publicly released. North Texas was under an extreme heat warning at the time Thakkar collapsed, and temperatures climbed into the triple digits. Reporting by CBS News suggests that the vehicle Thakkar was driving at the time of his death was not equipped with air conditioning. 

Gates was also driving a vehicle with no air conditioning on the day he died. Following an investigation, OSHA fined the USPS more than $15,600 for failing to provide Gates with safe working conditions. The agency suggested that workers should begin working routes earlier to avoid the heat of the day, and that access to cooler temperatures should be ensured during peak summer months. The postal service appealed the citation, and the matter is still in flux. 

In the wake of Gates’ death, the Postal Service pledged to speed up a rollout of an air-conditioned vehicle fleet nationally. In a letter to U.S. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett of Dallas, who probed the agency due to Gates being a constituent of her district, the agency stated that “a significant percentage of [the] new vehicles [are] expected” to be delivered to Texas. Crockett vowed to “closely monitor the deployment” of the modernized fleet and continue pushing for Congressional action on the conditions facing federal workers. 

Crockett’s office did not respond to two inquiries about the status of that project in light of Thakkar’s death. 

According to a statement provided to the Observer by the USPS, there are more than 230,000 vehicles in the USPS fleet nationally, and at least 43,000 replacement vehicles equipped with air conditioning have been deployed in recent years. An additional 63,000 vehicles are planned to be released through 2028, and the agency said that all vehicles purchased since 2003 have come equipped with air conditioning. 

Still, North Texas lags behind the nation when it comes to access to the modernized fleet. 

“53% of all current postal vehicles nationwide have air conditioning,” the statement said. “In the DFW area, approximately 47% of Postal Service vehicles have air conditioning.” 

Lewis confirmed that the letter carriers she represents have access to “a few” air-conditioned vehicles, but that “we don’t have one for every letter carrier out there delivering mail.” She added that workers can face disciplinary penalties if routes are not completed within a certain period of time, which she believes leads to carriers ignoring symptoms like headaches or nausea. She regularly has to remind her carriers that “their safety comes first.” 

“It’s not that I don’t care about the delivery of the mail, because I do,” Lewis said. “But that mail will get delivered whether that person does it or not. If they don’t feel well,  I’m asking them to just protect themselves.” 

Last summer, a 28-year veteran of the postal service, Jacob Taylor, fell ill and died while working in the 2200 block of Medical District Drive in Dallas. Temperatures reached the mid-90s on the day Taylor died, and Brian Renfroe, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, testified to the U.S. House Committee on Oversight that the death was “another jarring reminder of the on-the-job hazards that letter carriers face every day, such as crime, assaults, extreme heat and dealing with problems with infrastructure such as outdated vehicles.” 

The postal service does promote a heat illness prevention program that all new hires are required to complete. The initiative reminds workers to remain hydrated, advises them to walk in shaded areas when possible and directs them to call 911 if they experience symptoms of heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

Still, Lewis said the program is more of a temporary fix than it is a systemic solution. 

“Carriers are working under pressure at times when they probably need to stop,” said Lewis. “[Umeshkumar Thakkar] was 58 years old. He had a lot more life left. It’s just sad, but that’s what we’re faced with.”