SARASOTA – Summer is around the corner, but already temperatures are beginning to rise. One group not happy about that is UPS drivers, since most of their trucks don’t have A/C. “Its very hot,” said Jennifer Sams about the temperature inside the ups truck she drives daily. “The trucks are brown of course, and white topped, which makes like a greenhouse and there is absolutely no air in there maybe a fan. But some of them don’t even have that.” And she says driving around in the hot truck is beginning to affect her health. “I’ve been in the ER 3 times, and its been heat exhaustion. They have to have heat up in these trucks in New York so I think it should be mandatory to have A/C here since we’re at the other end of the spectrum,” said Sams. So we took Sams’ concerns to UPS. “No one in the delivery industry uses A/C in those trucks because the doors are open all day long and the air moving in and out so it will make AC very ineffective,” said Dan McMackin a UPS representative. And he says there are things the driver can do to stay cool. “Training is really key to avoiding a situation like that. The first step is hydration, the second step is focus on wellness in your every day life, so diet does add additional factors to the heat.” But Sams says she’s taking those steps and they haven’t been working. “I have a cooler full of drinks that Im drinking constantly, Im trying to do everything I can and the last time this happened to me I felt like this could kill me,” said Sams. According to general practitioner Dr. Ed Carlastorm, those concerns are legitimate. “Worst case scenario is someone is unable to get out of the sun they could have organ failure and die,” said Carlastorm. Dr. Carlastorm says even while staying hydrated there is a danger. “Your body can’t maintain a normal temperature once it gets up to about 105, 106, it doesn’t have the ability to bring your temperature back down.” But despite the danger, Sams says her and other drivers complaints have gone unanswered. “There won’t be air in them in your lifetime Jen, thats exactly what they said to me.”
