Last week, a UPS driver suffering from heat exhaustion crashed his truck.

Joe Paduda

This is from the driver’s union, Teamsters Local 767:

Yesterday, a driver from Longview was sent to the McKinney building to drive. The driver experienced heat-related symptoms and called in for assistance. The company once again did not follow their own Recharge guidelines and asked the driver to drive himself in. This is UNACCEPTABLE. The driver passed out while driving in ...

Which makes this UPS statement all the more unconscionable (I’m really trying to be polite here):

We are aware of an incident involving our driver in McKinney, TX. We care deeply about his safety and well-being. We are working with authorities to investigate and defer to them for questions.

The tragedy was recorded by a driver paralleling the UPS truck. (Note: The UPS driver was released from the hospital the next day.)

WTH is UPS thinking? From a risk management perspective, the driver could have hit a school bus, crashed into a gas station or smashed into a police car on the shoulder.

Couple this with the stupidity of politicians in Texas and Florida and elsewhere — and industry thought leaders’ willful ignorance of this critical issue — and we will inevitably see horrific accidents that are completely avoidable.

When the attorneys come knocking, perhaps the industry will wake up.

What does this mean for you?

Wake the hell, up folks: Human-caused climate change is real, will greatly impact workers’ comp, and those who sit on the sidelines are guilty of complicity.

Joseph Paduda is the principal of Health Strategy Associates, a consulting firm focused on improving medical management programs in workers’ compensation. This column is republished with his permission from his Managed Care Matters blog.