You’ve probably heard the saying about postal workers: Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night is going to stop them from delivering your mail.
But the Occupational Safety and Health Administration doesn’t seem to agree.
OSHA accuses the Arlington post office on Merrill Road of putting mail carriers in danger by requiring them to deliver mail in high temperatures.
The federal agency issued USPS a $129,336 fine Jan. 24.
USPS began the process of contesting that fine Tuesday.
According to OSHA, around Aug. 9, “Letter Carriers were exposed to the hazards of high ambient temperatures while delivering mail” which could have led to “heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke.”
OSHA’s website says it has cited USPS for violating the agency’s same rule five times since 2014 at post offices across the country.
If only OSHA would step up and require the Boone PO to repair the HVAC system. Our system hasn’t functioned properly in 3 years! Complaints get filed, OSHA gets fed a line of ????????and we’re back to sweltering in an 80 plus degree building. ????
If OSHA really wanted to do something about it, they wouldn’t fine the postal service, but instead fine the postal service officials who are responsible for not providing the workers with air conditioning. The bureaucrats won’t care unless they personally will have to pay the fines.
The USPS doesn’t care about carriers having a heat stroke or even dying. Carriers are just slaves to them.