Extreme heat

Thanks to a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust and Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE), residents are expanding the city’s canopy through tree planting.

The heat-related death of a worker with Baltimore City's Department of Public Works brought attention to the conditions faced by employees there.

An outside law firm found a lack of training and knowledge about heat safety. They also found a culture in which employees were afraid to speak up about safety concerns out of fears over retaliation.

Maryland’s heat standard, which is nearly four years in the making, could have saved someone like Ronald Silver II, a Baltimore City sanitation worker who died of heat exhaustion on the job.

Route workers are reliant are personal cell phones in most emergencies.

The rally went on despite extreme temperatures, organizers say that’s nothing compared to what sanitation workers experience on the back of a truck.

On Wednesday, the city plans to have workers begin their routes early in the day to avoid the heat and have supervisors call crews back in if conditions become unsafe.

Some local municipalities are getting proactive when it comes to setting heat policies.

The city has announced that they have hired an independent firm to audit policies at the Department of Public Works, particularly heat safety practices.

The standards apply to laborers working where the heat index is at 80 degrees.