William L. Murphy, a sixty-nine year old FedEx Freight driver, was found dead at the company’s distribution center in East Moline, Illinois, on the morning of January 31. He died, according to the coroner, from a traumatic head injury after falling between two semi-tractor trailers. The center was closed, according the FedEx Freight, due to the historic cold weather. In nearby Moline, for example, temperatures dropped to 33 (F) degrees below zero, the coldest temperatures ever recorded there.

Murphy was discovered by a co-worker at 9:30 AM. The local police were called and arrived shortly after. How many hours Murphy was lying there, injured and unconscious or semi-conscious, is unknown. But it was surely a horrible way for Murphy to die, lying severely injured in the deadliest weather any of us ever experienced.

UPS, FedEx, and Target, along with other corporations, were criticized for having their employees report to work during the polar vortex, with its deadly cold temperatures exacerbated by howling winds. Many of the big logistics companies did limit their deliveries and pickups operations — not out of a deep concern for their workers, several Chicago logistics workers told me, but because many of their customers were closed. UPS, for example, still required hub workers, package delivery drivers, and over-the-road drivers to report to work and drive their routes.