Safety at Work
Atlanta, GA (WorkersCompensation.com) – A number of employee deaths at a U.S. Postal Service facility in metro Atlanta has U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff asking for answers.
In a letter to U.S. Postal Service Postmaster General David Steiner, Ossoff asked what was being done to address a number of issues after a fourth employee death at the Atlanta Regional Processing and Distribution Center in Palmetto. The issues have plagued the facility since it opened in 2024, he said.
“Since the Palmetto facility opened, postal workers have continually reported difficulty making calls inside of the facility in the event of emergency situations, poor working conditions, and management struggles,” Ossoff wrote. “When I inspected the facility in May 2024, staff reported similar issues, including lack of cell phone service inside the facility, and I’m concerned that these same complaints persist. I also questioned your predecessor, Louis DeJoy, about a recent death at this same facility in December 2024, when he testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee about a death at the Palmetto facility. He promised to provide my office details on the incident, which we never received.”
On June 3, postal worker Demarcus Little died at the distribution facility, the postal service confirmed.
In a statement, a USPS spokesperson said the organization’s thoughts are with the employee’s family, friends, and colleagues and that it was “deeply saddened by the by the tragic loss of a postal family member.”
“We will be providing counseling services to our employees at the Palmetto Regional Distribution Center,” the spokesperson said.
No cause was given for Little’s death by the USPS, but recordings of 911 calls indicate he fell ill and collapsed.
“We have a young man who has fell out. He appears to be having a stroke,” one caller told dispatchers.
Little was the fourth fatality at the facility since it opened. Previously, a worker died in November 2025, June 2025 and August 2024.
In November, a mail handler assistant at the facility died, but how was unclear.
“The Postal Service is deeply saddened by the loss of our postal family member. Our sincere condolences and thoughts go out to his family, friends, and co-workers,” a USPS spokesperson said in a statement.
In June 2025, 59-year-old Eric Smith, an electronic technician with USPS, died when he apparently suffered a medical emergency. In August 2024, 48-year-old Sharon Barnes died at the facility as well. Officials said Barnes body was discovered by employees after her shift had ended. Officials said she had passed out at work, but that co-workers had to leave the building to call 911. Barnes was transported to a nearby hospital, where doctors told the family she had already died from complications related to a brain aneurysm.
Co-workers said Barnes didn’t receive medical attention for at least 30 minutes because of the lack of cell phone service inside the facility.
Ossoff wrote that employees and local media had reported that postal workers have continually said the facility has poor working conditions and management struggles, and that it was difficult to make calls inside the facility in the event of emergency situations.
“When I inspected the facility in May 2024, staff reported similar issues, including lack of cell phone service inside the facility, and I’m concerned that these same complaints persist,” Ossoff wrote. “Postal workers are working hard to deliver the mail and deserve safe working conditions and proper management.”
Ossoff also said that an audit by the Office of the Inspector General found in 2025 that the facility had “insufficient supervision and a poor employee work culture.”
One USPS employee at the facility told local media “we haven’t had any phone service since we came to that building,” and that “someone’s house had burned down to the ground and they didn’t even know it until we went on break. Another employee’s child was in a very bad car accident and wasn’t able to be reached.”
Ossoff has requested Steiner provide him with
· Information about how USPS will address workers’ concerns
· A comparison of workplace safety standards with other regional processing and distribution standards
· Information on what progress USPS has made in implementing recommendations from an Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report last year that detailed “insufficient supervision and a poor employee work culture” at the Palmetto facility
· Details on other improvements the facility has made
U.S. Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) and the American Postal Workers Union have also expressed concerns about the conditions at the plant.
Ossoff is requesting Steiner answer his questions by June 26.
