A worker for the FedEx Ground facility was killed early Sunday morning in Olive Branch in a workplace accident.
Details of how the worker was killed were not immediately clear as of Monday late afternoon. Officials have not identified the worker; inquiries to the Olive Branch Police Department and the Olive Branch Fire Department were not returned.
A spokesperson for the logistics and shipping company sent The Commercial Appeal a statement acknowledging the worker's death which read: "First and foremost, we extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends who are mourning a loved one lost in this accident. Safety is our highest priority and we are cooperating fully with local authorities at this time."
The deceased worker is the sixth Memphis-area FedEx employee to die at work since 2014 and the second employee to die this year.
In July 2014, Chandler Warren, 19, was crushed by a giant cargo lift. In 2015, cargo tug operator Christopher Higginbottom, 39, was crushed by a loaded dolly he was towing after he fell off of the tug he was driving and was subsequently crushed by the loaded dolly.
In November 2017, Ellen Gladney was found dead at the company's main hub. Gladney was crushed by a motorized mobile conveyer belt system.
Two years later, in November 2019, Duntate Young, 23, was killed after his leg caught in the curtain door of a shipping container in the hub. Young was dragged for a few feet before his chest "hit the side of the middle roller," according to a Memphis International Airport Police report.
In February 2022, 33-year-old Jessica James was killed in a forklift accident.
FedEx was fined $7,000 by the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 2020 for Young's death, as the conditions that lead to his death were previously identified by TOSHA as hazards.
According to reports from ProPublica and MLK50, that fine was later reduced to $5,950 after the company returned a list of new or updated safety protocols to TOSHA.
Micaela Watts is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal and can be reached at micaela.watts@commercialappeal.com.