North Texas postal worker’s death prompts calls for extreme heat protections

• Funeral services were held Thursday for 58-year-old postal worker Umeshkumar Thakkar, who collapsed and died on his route.
• While triple-digit heat affected North Texas that day, USPS has not confirmed if heat caused his death, pending autopsy results.
• The tragedy has renewed calls from labor advocates to enact stronger workplace safety rules protecting delivery drivers in extreme weather.

AUBREY, Texas – Funeral services were held on Thursday for the postal worker who died whole on his route in Little Elm on an extremely hot day.

And now there’s a push to change policies to protect employees who work in extreme temperatures.

What’s new:

Family, friends, and co-workers gathered on Thursday afternoon to pay their final respects to Umeshkumar Thakkar of Aubrey.

The 58-year-old postal worker died on Monday after collapsing while delivering mail in a Little Elm neighborhood.

What we know:

Video from a camera at the corner of Thornhill Lane and Graystone Drive shows Thakkar’s USPS truck parked with its hazard lights on around 12:20 p.m. Around 2 p.m., someone called 911 to report that he had passed out in his truck and was unresponsive.

Officials administered CPR, but Thakkar was pronounced dead.

MORE

Vehicle driven by North Texas mail carrier who died did not have AC, union says

Letter carrier Umeshkumar Thakkar died on the job in Little Elm this week. The cause is still under investigation, with speculation that it may have been heat-related. The president of his union said Thakkar's truck did not have air conditioning.

Third Dallas-area postal worker dies in 3 years amid extreme heat

The death of Umeshkumar Thakkar is the latest in a series of fatal incidents exposing the refusal of the US Postal Service to protect workers from extreme heat.

Texas mail carrier's death during heat wave raises questions about USPS worker safety

While it's unclear whether Thakkar's death was directly related to the triple-digit heat that day, neighbors told local media they believe the extreme temperatures may have played a role.

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