Video of UPS driver collapsing on Scottsdale porch a stark reminder of risks for outdoor workers in Arizona

When a UPS driver was shown staggering on a Scottsdale front porch in a video that went viral this week, it again drove home the risks facing people working outside in Arizona's extreme summer heat — from mail and package-delivery drivers to construction laborers and landscape crews.

In the roughly 30-second video, the United Parcel Service employee briefly slumps to the ground while delivering an envelope at the door of resident Brian Enriquez, who wasn't home at the time but recorded it on a doorbell camera. The video was picked up by USA TODAY, CNN, NBC News, the Guardian and other news outlets. UPS said the driver, whom it didn't name, notified his supervisor at the time and recovered.

On that same day, July 15, U.S. Postal Service representatives were describing the excessive heat risks faced by mail carriers in Arizona and other states at a hearing in Phoenix hosted by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.

"It's like working in a pizza oven," said Jeffrey Clark, who was employed as an Arizona letter carrier for 36 years before retiring in 2020, describing the inside of postal vans and trucks that lack air conditioning.

Soaring summer temperatures are a fact of life in Arizona, and workers often must adjust the best they can. They start their day earlier, some have training to recognize heat-related illnesses and others seek out air conditioning in delivery vehicles — if they have it.

Several people who work outdoors in the Arizona summer said they have had the tell-tale signs of heat sickness.

Jesús Sesmas, a 58-year-old independent gardener, can relate to the UPS driver. Last summer he experienced symptoms of a heat stroke while trimming a palm tree in a residential area of downtown Phoenix.

“I began feeling cramps, dizziness, my mouth was really dry, and I hadn’t been up there that long — about 45 minutes max,” Sesmas said. He drank water before climbing the tree but said his mouth got dry fast.

Extreme heat: Amid heat waves, a study questions cooling centers. A Phoenix official says we need more

Early shifts help outdoor workers

Sesmas often starts as early as 6 a.m. but sometimes works as late as 8 p.m. He considers working in high temperatures a difficult task.

“Not everyone can tolerate the heat,” he said. “There are people who can’t get used to it, and they pass out or get ill.”

Construction worker Justin Rodríguez said his usual shift in the summer goes from around 4:30 a.m. and extends until noon, to avoid the hottest hours of the day. Even so, Rodriquez said he has experienced dizziness and headaches while working outdoors.

“You just got to take breaks, get in the shade five or 10 minutes, drink some water and get back to work,” Rodriguez said.

“The toughest hours are probably anytime from 2 to 4 p.m.,” he said. “But we always have enough water out here, we keep ourselves hydrated and we take care of each other.”

Early shifts also are normal for Ben Schrepf, a curator at the Japanese Friendship Garden in Phoenix, where he manages a team of landscape workers. Summertime shifts there extend from around 5:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., with more outdoor work conducted in the early morning hours.

Schrepf too said he has experienced slight headaches and dizziness.

“I usually just move to the shade (and) try to stay really hydrated,” he said. “Generally, we have towels we keep wet and hang around our necks.”

Schrepf said his crew tries to avoid the sun if it's more than 105 degrees outside. "We're lucky because the garden has a fair amount of shade," he said.

Focus on air-conditioned vehicles

Some outdoor work is unavoidable in Arizona during the summer, and escaping to the comfort of air-conditioned vehicles can help. But not all cars and trucks, especially delivery vans, have controlled climates,

Most Postal Service vehicles lack air-conditioning, which was the focus for Sinema, who chairs the Senate's Government Operations and Border Management Subcommittee. Her hearing dealt with the dangers of hot vehicles for Postal Service employees and the impact on operations in Arizona.

Fewer than 20% of USPS vehicles in Arizona have air conditioning, and some Postal employees elsewhere have died from heat exposure, as happened in the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills in 2018, when temperatures hit 117 degrees.

The following year, an anonymous Postal Service employee in Arizona claimed to have cooked meat from the heat of his delivery vehicle's dashboard, which purportedly reached 142 degrees.

"High temperatures, and the inability to avoid the heat during a shift, creates a dangerous environment for the men and women who deliver our mail each day,” said Sinema, who held the hearing at the main Phoenix postal facility.

The summer heat inside Postal Service vehicles can exceed outside air temperatures by more than 20 degrees, said James Salmon, a vice president and legislative chair of the National Association of Postal Supervisors.

In addition to health risks, high vehicle temperatures can hurt employee morale and lead to more sick time off and worker turnover, affecting operations, Clark said.

The Postal Service nationally operates around 212,000 delivery vehicles, most of which are more than 20 years old and lack air conditioning. Some vehicles average as many as 600 stops a day, Salmon said.

Postal Service carriers often work one hour a day sorting mail and seven or more hours delivering it, Clark said. When temperatures soar, employees face heat stroke, heat exhaustion and even heart failure with heat as an underlying cause. Clark was on the job, delivering mail, on June 26, 1990, when the temperature here hit the all-time record of 122 degrees.

About 5,000 men and women deliver the mail in Arizona, said Clark, who now serves as president of the Arizona State Association of Letter Carriers.

Next-generation vans coming

However, the Postal Service has worked to include more air-conditioned vehicles among its fleet, the largest and oldest in the federal system. The agency on July 20 announced that 50% of its next-generation vehicles in a big upcoming order will be electric. The new vehicles also will come with air conditioning, said Sue Brennan, a USPS spokeswoman. Other features include back-up cameras, air bags and forward-collision warning systems.

In the meantime, the Postal Service takes various measures to help safeguard employees from heat risk, from educating them about the signs of heat stress to encouraging them to take plenty of water, ice and cooling towels while on routes, plus regular breaks, said John Morgan. He's a former letter carrier in Arizona who now serves as the USPS district manager for Arizona and New Mexico.

Your part: How to help unsheltered neighbors during Phoenix’s extreme summer heat

Air conditioned vehicles alone won't eliminate all heat risks, he noted, as carriers must deliver the mail at least partly on foot.

"The nature of our vehicle operations — frequent window and door openings and closings for mail delivery — may not significantly reduce or alleviate the onset of heat-related stress or illness through cool air alone," Morgan said at the hearing.

Despite often-intense desert heat, Morgan said mail delivery in Arizona actually remains among the best in the nation, and he described the number of employee absences due to heat as low, with most instances not requiring medical attention or time off.

Clark advocated for another partial solution to high summer temperatures: allowing shifts to start earlier. When he was hired in 1980, Clark said letter carriers typically worked shifts that began at 6 a.m. and finished around 2:30 pm. Since then, USPS management changed that to shifts running from 8 a.m. to 4:30 pm.

He called on the agency to follow other industries that must grapple with high summer temperatures. "The construction trades in Arizona generally start when the Sun rises," he said.

Educating workers about the risks

Soaring summer temperatures affect a lot of businesses.

FedEx issued a statement that its company-owned vehicles have air conditioning. Affiliated service providers, who own and operate their own trucks, are "contractually obligated to comply with all laws related to their safe operation," FedEx added, without elaborating.

FedEx said it encourages drivers to stay hydrated, take frequent breaks and learn to recognize the signs of heat-related illness.

Amazon, another corporation that operates a large delivery fleet in Arizona, didn't respond to a query on how it handles heat stress and how many of its vehicles have air conditioning.

United Parcel Service, which employs nearly 7,200 people in Arizona, issued a statement indicating that preparation, rest, hydration and good health practices are important to working outdoors.

The company has a "Cool Solutions” program that educates employees about hydration, nutrition and proper sleep, and it conducts morning meetings with drivers all year round, reminding them of the risks.

"In the summer, in addition to providing water and ice for employees, we provide regular heat illness and injury-prevention training to all operations managers and drivers," the company said.

The driver who stumbled in Scottsdale "used his training to be aware of his situation and contacted his manager, who immediately provided assistance," UPS added.

Rod Evans, a security employee with Valley Metro for more than seven years, said he follows some of the same precautions when he works outdoors at the station at Van Buren Street and 1st Avenue. A shift for him can start as early as 5 a.m. and end between 1 and 4 p.m. He said he sometimes has felt ill working in the heat.

Valley Metro supervisors provide training to employees to help prepare them for working in the heat.

“They tell us to stay hydrated, take breaks and just be mindful of your body," Evans said. "If it's telling you something, you have to listen to it."

Reach the reporter at russ.wiles@arizonarepublic.com.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona UPS driver collapsing shows risks of working outdoor in summer