Dan Workman, a 59-year-old postal carrier, died while on the job on May 30. He was a nine-year veteran of the Postal Service working in Grand Junction, Colorado.
According to postal workers, Workman was making deliveries in 95 degree heat and had just 12 deliveries left on his 16 mile route. He had been unresponsive for nearly two hours before the local postal office management sent a City Carrier Assistant (CCA) to check on him, where he was found collapsed in the front yard of a house, according to postal workers.
Local news outlet Western Slope Now reported the Deputy Coroner as saying that heat exposure was not considered the primary factor in his death, but that it “may ultimately be ruled as a contributory factor, just as any physical exertion may play a role in a cardiac event.” Workman was reportedly a diabetic.
Understaffing may also have played a role. The Daily Sentinel reported “Short staffing has led to a delay in mail deliveries — sometimes by as much as [one and a half] weeks for some Mesa County residents.”
