Branch 203

Seasonal Safety

Hazards

• HEAT: Summertime can be a hard one to get through with extreme heat. On any day that is at or over 80 degrees (with or without heat index) carriers have the right to refill water containers as necessary and take cooling breaks as needed if symptoms of heat illness manifest. If you need to have a cooling break simply notify management through the scanner of when you’re beginning and when you’re continuing delivery. The source of these protections come from the HIPP program and an MOU concerning the “Heat Abatement Program” from 2015 after an employee was worked to death in the heat in Independence, MO.

• RESIDENTS: More kids are home during the summer and are playing outside. Children can be unpredictable and unknowingly put themselves in harm’s way while they play. Drive defensively, protect your customers. Kids and parents at home may be lax on their dog restraint too, so when you’re delivering during the summer and you know a house has a dog; keep an eye for residents coming to the door to greet you, they might have a dog right behind them ready to sneak out!

• MANAGEMENT: Several carrier have died from intimidation tactics and bullying by management across the United States. By pushing carriers to work unsafely and meet arbitrary metrics for their own elevation carriers have died attempting to avoid discipline, avoid retaliation, and avoid confrontation with management. Your safety is the most important element of the job, and heat related illness is an insidious killer that no one thinks will happen to them. Hydrate as needed, take comfort stops as needed with all the extra hydration, and take cooling breaks if you feel any symptoms of heat related illness. There are no standards for street duties which is upheld in several National-level grievance settlements, including M-01769 and M-01664 which state projections are not the sole determinant of a carrier’s work day. You have no obligation or standard to meet aside from your office casing/pull-down standards, so while you’re sweating out there in the heat you shouldn’t be sweating whether or not you’ll make your DOIS projections, or whatever management decides to use next.

• YOUR EGO: Many carriers think they can just tough it out and get through it. Don’t be too proud to be safe, the labor movement’s history is replete with stories of people being forced to work to death so that you can have the right to personal safety. Think of your family, your friends, and your future before you try to power through heat illness. Remember, nobody thinks heat illness will happen to them, and nobody plans on dying by heat stroke: take it seriously.