Congressman to introduce bill that would require U.S. Postal Service to have AC in mail trucks

Six months after a mail carrier died in her truck on a searing day in the San Fernando Valley, Rep. Tony Cárdenas said he plans to introduce a bill in the coming weeks that if successful would ensure that all U.S. Postal Service delivery vehicles have air-conditioning.

Veteran carrier Peggy Frank, 63, was found dead in her non-air-conditioned mail truck in Woodland Hills on July 6, a day that temperatures soared to 117 degrees. Los Angeles County coroner’s officials have said that Frank, a North Hills resident, died of hyperthermia, an abnormally high body temperature caused by a failure of the body to deal with heat coming from the environment.

“For any vehicle that is owned by the federal government not to have this simple technology … is just unconscionable,” Cárdenas, D-Panorama City, told the Southern California News Group on Friday.

The bill would ensure that each vehicle has air-conditioning and heating units that are “modern, safe and effective” to protect workers, the congressman said.

Since 2003, all motor vehicles purchased by the Postal Service have been equipped with air conditioning, a U.S. Postal spokeswoman has said.

Overall, 63,000-plus Postal Service vehicles have air conditioning. The fleet had more than 230,000 vehicles as of fall 2017. All postal vehicles apparently have heating.

The Postal Service has yet to determine whether its next-generation vehicles will have air conditioning, according to a Nov. 30 reply from Postmaster General Megan J. Brennan to Cárdenas. The congressman had spearheaded a letter in October urging the Postal Service to “strongly consider” having climate-control units in all of its mail trucks in light of Frank’s death. More than 30 Congress members signed that letter.

A decision on what the next-generation vehicles will be equipped with is expected later this year.

Brennan said, in her letter, that the agency will continue to work closely with union officials “to ensure that the vehicles meet the needs of our employees.”

Brian Renfroe, executive vice president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, said Friday that assuring that letter carriers are safe while serving the public is “extremely important to us. …

“We are continuing to work with OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and the Postal Service to implement heat-safety measures to better protect the nation’s letter carriers,” he said in a statement.

Federal workplace safety investigators launched a probe shortly after Frank’s death, the results of which had yet to be released as of Friday.

While her cause of death was listed as hyperthermia, other significant conditions Frank had were obesity and heart disease, which generally impact someone’s ability to regulate their body temperature, according to coroner’s officials.

Cárdenas’ goal, he said, is to make sure the Postal Service doesn’t go “back to the place” where other families must memorialize a public servant over this issue.

“(Frank) left behind (two) children and five grandbabies,” Cárdenas said. “It breaks my heart that she won’t be able to be with her grandbabies and that her grandbabies won’t be able to be with her. …This should not happen to anyone else.”

Frank’s sister, Lynn Calkins, said she was thankful for the congressman’s efforts.

“That makes me very happy, and it (would) make Peggy very happy, too,” Calkins said, her voice cracking with emotion.