INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) — An administrative law judge has upheld a citation issued to the U.S. Postal Service after a carrier in Missouri died of excessive heat.
The Postal Service had contested the citation when it was issued in 2012 after 57-year-old John Watzlawick of Blue Springs collapsed on his route in Independence. Watzlawick had asked to be relieved from his duties because of the heat the day before he died. The high temperature the day he collapsed was 104 degrees.
The Postal Service also will pay a penalty of $70,000 in Watzlawick’s death.
An OSHA investigation found that the postal service did not have procedures to address worker concerns during times of excessive heat.