Fayetteville, NC (WorkersCompensation.com) – The recent death of a Fayetteville, N.C. postal worker is being investigated as heat-related.
The death comes just months after the USPS was fined by OSHA for a heat-related death in June of last year.
Officials said Wednesday “Wendy” Johnson, 51, died in June after spending hours in a hot postal van. Family members said Johnson, a 20 year employee of the USPS said she began to feel sick on a hot day while working.
“When I would think of my mom, I would think of my own community because I didn’t need nobody else but her,” her daughter, Sa’ni Johnson, told WRAL.
Family members said Johnson, a supervisor, was riding in the back of a postal truck on a 95-degree day. Her son, Deandre Johnson, said she would sometimes help with deliveries. But on June 6, she began to feel sick.
Officials said Wendy Johnson was eventually found unconscious in the bathroom of a Fayetteville post office. OSHA is investigating the death as heat-related. The vehicles used by Johnson’s office do not have air conditioning. One employee told WRAL postal workers call the trucks “easy bake ovens.”
Deandre Johnson said his mother texted family members about the heat inside of trucks.
