Lawmakers Call for Answers after Michigan Postal Worker Found Dead Inside Machine

Safety at Work

Allen Park, MI (WorkersCompensation.com) – Michigan Congress members want answers after a postal worker was found dead inside of a machine at a postal facility.

Firefighters were called to the Allen Park, Mich., postal facility on Nov. 8 by the fiancée of Nicholas John Acker, 36, after he failed to come home from work. First responders said Acker was found stuck inside of a machine, and that he had been dead for between six to eight hours by the time firefighters arrived.

Acker’s friends, family and Congressional representatives are all questioning how he ended up inside of the machine and how long he was actually there before his body was found. On Nov. 13, U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell and Rashida Tlaib ( both D-MI) said they had sent a letter to U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner asking for answers about Acker’s death.

“We are requesting answers to questions that have arisen from this unnecessary tragedy,” Dingell and Tlaib said in a statement. “We worry what it means for the workers that officials were not called to the scene until hours after Nicholas died. Further, we are concerned how long Nicholas was in the machine before he was found and whether the machine was operating or turned off.” 

The Congressmembers said there were concerns about the machines prior to Acker’s death.

“Nicholas served nine years in the Air Force and had gotten engaged in the past two weeks. He was a maintenance mechanic at the NDC and had mentioned concerns about the way the facility was run to his fiancée,” the lawmakers wrote. “His union management had also raised concerns about safety measures and procedures at the facility, and more than 90 days ago, the union filed an Article 14 grievance stating that management was putting pressure on staff to look for letters while the handling machine was operating. When Nicholas didn’t return home from work on Saturday, his fiancée went to the facility where she waited outside the gates for three hours, as she watched emergency responders arrive, before she was notified of Nicholas’s death.”

Acker’s fiancée said she alerted the Allen Park mail processing facility when Acker didn’t return home on Saturday night. Acker worked the midnight shift as a mechanic and had been working at the facility for about a year, she told WDIV.

When Acker didn’t return home on Saturday or return calls or texts, his fiancée, Stephanie Jaszcz said she began to panic.

“So, I went up there, went to the fence and the intercom, and I was talking to some girl, and I was, like, ‘Listen, not to sound crazy, but my fiancé is missing,’” Jaszcz told WDIV.

Jaszcz said she waited for an hour for any information about Acker.

“She tells me he never punched out and they’re looking for him,” Jaszcz said. “All of a sudden, an ambulance, a fire truck, cop cars are all coming in. No one will let me through the gate. No one will talk to me.”

After another two hours of waiting, authorities informed Jaszcz that Acker was dead.

“I dropped to my knees, crying, and then stood up because the gate was opening and I ran through that gate,” Jaszcz said.

Police said Acker’s death was an accident, but that an investigation is continuing to determine how he got into the machine. An autopsy is planned but the results could take between four and six months.

The U.S. Postal Service released a statement on Nov. 10 regarding Acker’s death and confirming that operations at the facility have resumed.

“The United States Postal Service is deeply saddened by the loss of our employee at the Detroit Network Distribution Center (NDC) in Allen Park, MI. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. The NDC is fully operational, at this time,” the postal service said in a statement.

Dingell and Tlaib have asked Steiner to tell them when management of the facility was made aware of Acker’s disappearance as well as what actions were taken to locate him and whether the clock system had flagged him for being missing. The Congressmembers also asked whether or not the machine was on or off when Acker died and whether employees at the facility were trained on how to operate the machine and whether they were told to retrieve fallen mail while the machine was still running. Additionally, they asked for any video surveillance of the area and if workers operating and cleaning the machines are told to work with partners.

The Congressmembers gave the facility two weeks to answer their questions.

“What happened to USPS worker Nicholas Acker was tragic,” Dingell said in a Facebook post. “His death was senseless and shouldn’t have happened. We need to understand what happened and work to ensure it never happens again.

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