'We're dying out here:' After death of 24-year-old UPS worker in his truck, family members, other workers renew calls for AC in trucks, warehouses

The death of Esteban Chavez Jr. in June has made his family and fellow UPS drivers question how the company prioritizes safety.

• The death of 24-year-old Esteban Chavez Jr. has renewed calls from some employees for air conditioning on UPS trucks.
• Other delivery companies — like Amazon and USPS — have air conditioned vehicles, says driver.
• UPS encourages drivers to speak up if they feel their health is at risk, according to the company.

Fellow UPS workers and the family of a 24-year-old delivery driver who died on the job in June are urging the national powerhouse to change its policies and provide air conditioning during scorching summer months - even as the company holds firm on its heat safety protocols.

Esteban Chavez was found unconscious in his truck while on his UPS route in Pasadena and later died. Although an official cause of death has not been publicly released, Chavez's family suspects high temperatures in the 90s that day are to blame.

"Everyone knows, it is pretty hot out there, those trucks are a hot box," his father, Esteban Chavez Sr., told WFLA. "They have all these guys running around, delivering packages and trying to meet their quotas and do their jobs." 

Some UPS workers agree as the summer heat makes trucks, which are not air conditioned, stifling.

New York UPS driver Ben Douglass told Insider that he and his local coworkers are concerned, and that union members are fighting for better safety all around. 

Douglass used the air-conditioned vans of Amazon and other delivery services as examples of possible accommodations for UPS drivers.

"There's a constant pressure on drivers to meet the quotas and try to deliver everything that's put on the truck," Douglass said. "I don't think UPS management prioritizes safety."

But according to Director of Media Relations Matthew O'Connor, UPS delivery trucks don't have air conditioning because the frequent stops would render it "ineffective."

The company's warehouses also lack air conditioning because the buildings' large overhead dock doors are frequently open, which would make AC ineffective there, too, O'Connor said.

"We have studied heat and heat mitigation, and we have installed forced air systems with venting to create air flow on the driver, changed the roof of vehicles to minimize heat in the cargo area, insulated the roof of the cab, and we offer fans to drivers upon request," O'Connor told Insider.

One UPS driver who wished to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions expressed his desperation for air conditioning inside his truck.

"We're dying out here," he told Insider. "Those trucks can reach around 10 degrees higher than the outside temperature."

It's not a new complaint. A New Jersey UPS driver nearly went into kidney failure in 2019 after being unable to finish his delivery route in the summer heat, according to NBC News. That report included comments from multiple drivers.

"Our workload is increasing and we're still expected to get done faster," a driver in Kentucky told NBC News. "I pray every year I don't get a heatstroke."

UPS has directed all questions surrounding the death of Chavez toward investigators, according to a statement made by the company after Chavez's death.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of our driver Esteban Chavez, and extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends. We are cooperating with the investigating authorities and are respectfully deferring questions about this incident to them," the statement read.