Postal Worker Cooks Steak on Mail Truck Dashboard to Show Horrendous Heat Conditions at Work

Published: 8/6/2019, 12:46:24 PM EDT

Postal Worker Cooks Steak on Mail Truck Dashboard to Show Horrendous Heat Conditions at Work — Lin Zhengu, chef and owner of steak restaurant Stone Sal, holds a chunk of beef imported from the US, at his restaurant in Shanghai, on Aug. 1, 2018. (AFP/Getty Images)

A postal worker in Arizona showed how he cooked a steak on his mail truck dashboard during the extreme heat of his or her job.

The postal employee documented the entire experience and sent the photos to the local state representative. The worker showed her how he cooked the steak from partially thawed, to medium over the course of two and a half hours, all on the truck dashboard, Fed Smith reported.

Rep. Shawnna Bolick demanded to know what the postal workers union was doing about working conditions.

“It is shocking to hear of postal workers having to endure the extreme Arizona temperatures that result in delivery trucks, many of which do not have air conditioning, regularly reaching above 128 degrees,” said Bolick, in the letter to Mark Dimonstein, President of the American Postal Workers Union.

“Working conditions must be improved immediately to ensure the safety of mail carriers subjected to these dangerous temperatures,” she added.

The rest of the letter talked about the heat issues and their consequences facing postal workers, including the 128-degree average temperature inside postal vehicles.

“As you may know, in early July there was a death of a 28-year veteran for the USPS in Los Angeles County. I would like to know what your organization is doing to improve your employee's working conditions. I implore you to review any safety or incident reports that have been filed and hold necessary hearings to help improve the working conditions of your members because right now they are inhumane,” Bolick wrote.

She included photos of the steak cooking process that the employee sent her, and mentioned that the steak was cooked to an internal temperature of 142 degrees.

According to Inside Edition, mail trucks do not have air conditioning, at most there is a small fan clipped to the dashboard.

Peggy Frank had worked with the postal service for 28 years and was planning to retire. The 63-year-old had been on medical leave. On her first day back to work, she was found unresponsive in her mail truck in California, Inside Edition reported.

A federal agency fined the U.S. Postal Service $150,000 for the woman’s 2017 death. A coroner’s report revealed Frank died of accidental hyperthermia. She also had obesity and heart disease, CBSLA reported.

It was 117 degrees outside, and perhaps even more in the mail truck when Frank died. Inside Edition said that mail carriers are not allowed to drive with their doors open, and have to keep their doors closed during deliveries to prevent stealing, so not much air gets a chance to move through the truck to cool it down.

One postal worker in the Inside Edition video is shown going out with an ice bucket full of drinks. He said he takes a bottle from the bucket and pours cold water over his head during his shift.

Legislators in Congress are working on a bill that would increase safety requirements and provide overheating protection for workers in high-heat environments, including postal workers, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.

The inspiration for the bill was a 53-year-old who died from a stroke after picking grapes for 10 hours straight in 105-degree weather. The tragedy happened in 2004, in California, AOL reported.