A Washington-based law firm began working this week to review safety policies, practices and procedures at Baltimore’s Department of Public Works, specifically as they pertain to heat safety, Mayor Brandon Scott said Friday morning.
City officials expect a final set of recommendations from the law firm, Conn Maciel Carey LLP, by the end of September, according to the announcement. The review will also include recommendations “that, once implemented, will enhance the health, safety, and welfare of all City employees,” the announcement said.
The news comes two weeks after a DPW worker, Ronald Silver II, died from heat-related illness. Silver complained of feeling unwell on a day the city’s heat index approached 105 degrees and the health department declared a “code red.”
Gov. Wes Moore has called for a “full investigation” into Silver’s death, and City Council members have joined with labor unions to demand changes within the city’s Department of Public Works.
The City Council is poised to hold its first hearing on working conditions at the DPW on Aug. 22, just shy of three weeks since Silver’s death.
Silver’s family have said his death was “completely preventable” and called for a “swift” investigation with public hearings. Thiru Vignarajah, a former prosecutor and four-time candidate for citywide office in Baltimore, is representing Silver’s family.
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The family will gather outside Baltimore City Hall late Friday morning to “share their favorite memories to ensure the public remembers this father of five [Silver] as more than just the catalyst and centerpiece of the current debate over DPW’s failures,” Vignarajah said in an email.
Scott said the city will work with “everyone,” including unions, Silver’s family and rank-and-file DPW employees, on the safety review.
“The insights from this additional outside review of DPW’s workplace safety practices will play a critical role in strengthening safety standards and best practices across all City agencies,” Scott said in a statement.
City officials are “committed to publicly sharing” the findings and recommendations of the review, the announcement said.
Khalil Zaied, the acting director of the DPW, said his “top priority” is changing workplace culture. Critics of the agency have referenced a “toxic culture” at the department in the wake of Silver’s death; Scott acknowledged those concerns and promised improvements.
The Baltimore Office of Inspector General released two reports on the working conditions at city-run sanitation facilities earlier this summer. Among the findings, the reports found broken air conditioning and inoperable water fountains at one facility and locked-up toilet paper at another.
Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming personally observed employees leaving for their trash routes without being given water or Gatorade for their shifts, she wrote.
So far this year, more than 1,000 Marylanders have sought medical assistance for heat-related illness and 19 have died, according to the latest available data from the Department of Health.
However, data obtained by The Baltimore Banner shows the state agency responsible for investigating unsafe work environments initiated only 32 inspections into employers reported for heat stress-related issues since 2019.
