UPS driver passes out at wheel, crashes into tree due to heat, union says

MCKINNEY, Texas (KTVT) - A Teamsters union is demanding answers after video shows a UPS driver losing control, nearly crashing into oncoming traffic and hitting a tree in an incident allegedly caused by heat exhaustion.

A driver filmed cell phone video of a UPS truck careening into oncoming traffic Friday in McKinney, Texas, narrowly missing a red car and slamming into trees. According to the UPS driver’s union, Teamsters Local 767, he was suffering from heat-related illness when he lost control.

“While he was driving, he unfortunately succumbed to those heat-related injuries, and he did pass out behind the wheel,” said David Reeves, the union’s principal officer.

The union says the driver, who is based in the Longview area, was asked to help out on Friday, driving from the UPS facility in McKinney. He left around noon, but after a few hours, he started vomiting and feeling ill from the heat.

“That’s when he had to tell the supervisor that he could no longer complete his job for the 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 goes against UPS’ heat safety protocols and that the manager should’ve called 911.

“UPS has got to take responsibility for this and shut these drivers down. They’ve gotta be responsible, frankly, for the safety of the driver along with the general public,” Reeves said.

The driver was hospitalized but is now recovering at home.

UPS says it cares deeply about the driver’s well-being and will be working with authorities to investigate what happened.

The company says it spends more than $400 million annually on safety training and has taken several heat safety measures, including adding more cooling equipment to facilities and vehicles, providing employes with specialized cooling gear and providing access to ice and water.

According to Local 767, UPS also promised that all new vehicles purchased this year within their jurisdiction would be air conditioned. As far as the union knows, none of them have air conditioning yet.

“This is unacceptable,” Reeves said. “UPS needs to stay focused on taking care of their people over their packages is exactly our message.”

Just last summer, Eugune Gates Jr., a U.S. Postal Service driver from Dallas, died of a heat-related illness while delivering mail on a scorching hot day in June.

“They have a multi-billion-dollar industry, and they are not looking out for the welfare of their employees,” said his widow, Carla Gates.

The union is hoping to sit down with UPS to come up with solutions, so no one else gets hurt on the job.