A Maryland Labor Department investigation sparked by the death of a sanitation worker concluded that Baltimore City’s public works department regularly exposed employees to dangerous working conditions.

The Maryland Occupational Safety and Health agency on Friday issued a ‘serious’ violation to Baltimore DPW — that means the agency found conditions that caused or were likely to cause serious harm or death to a worker. In this case, the agency found conditions of excessive heat.

The citation was signed by MOSH Acting Commissioner Michael Penn with a proposed $0 fine. As a municipal agency, Baltimore City is not subject to MOSH penalties.

Ronald Silver II died on August 2nd, 2024 shortly after witnesses said he complained of pain, cramping and thirst before he died at the end of his trash collection route.

On that day, MOSH determined that workers like Silver were “routinely exposed to excessive heat and humidity” as they completed routine duties of hauling trash from the curb into trucks, placing bins onto tippers, or manually moving waste receptacles. Workers were subject to “direct sunlight where the calculated Heat Index (HI) reached approximately 108.6 °F, conditions that can cause… muscle cramps, rashes, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and death.”

The Baltimore City Department of Public Works has until March 17th to abate the conditions. Among its recommendations for DPW, MOSH recommended creating a comprehensive heat illness and safety prevention plan. Such a plan is actually now required under a new state law that did not exist when Silver died.

On September 30th, Maryland became the first state to implement an occupational heat standard.

In a response issued Friday evening, Baltimore DPW wrote that it is “evaluating the details of the citation to determine next steps.” Part of that, the department wrote, includes improvements to operations and workforce culture “to better safeguard our workforce.”

Chief among those improvements is the creation of and finalization of a heat illness prevention plan, representatives wrote.

Even before Silver died, alarm bells had been sounding about working conditions at the department’s facilities. In a series of scathing reports, Baltimore City Inspector General Isabel Cumming found that workers at the Reedbird Sanitation Yard (where Silver was based) had no air conditioning or regular supply of water and Gatorade. Fans were broken and ice machines were inoperable.

“Without adequate and safe working conditions, the City is not only potentially violating OSHA regulations, but DPW workers’ health and safety are currently at risk,” the inspector general wrote less than one month before Silver died on the job.

Silver’s death has prompted outcry and change from city leaders, union members, former and current sanitation workers.

An independent investigation commissioned by the city with law firm Conn, Maciel and Carey found that Baltimore City had no heat illness prevention plan in place when Silver died and that workers had little heat illness prevention training.

The most recent report from the Inspector General Cumming, issued just two days before the MOSH citation, found that conditions at the public works department are improving but problems still persist. Supervisors were often untrained and did not know how to handle various conflicts. Standard operating procedures for injury reporting were not in place and workers feared they would face discipline or retaliation if they reported an injury. Often they were pressured to work through injury or illness.

In their statement, DPW acknowledged those concerns. The department has developed various plans for hazardous conditions, like heat and cold, and is implementing new training. Additionally, the city has slated millions in both capital improvement and ARPA funds for upgrades at sanitation facilities. The Reedbird Sanitation yard was allocated $10 million for upgrades that include a new administration facility, a new staff facility, and a new truck bay.

The Baltimore City Council is scheduled to hold an investigative hearing into conditions at the Solid Waste division of the Department of Public Works later this month.