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Elected officials and union leaders in Baltimore are calling for safer and more humane working conditions for the city’s public works employees after a man collapsed and died from heatstroke last week while collecting trash during hot summer weather.
Critics say the recent death of Ronald Silver II is a tragic result of longstanding problems within the agency, including an abusive culture perpetuated by supervisors and a lack of concern for basic health and safety measures.
“These men and women are doing the jobs that none of us wishes to do. They’re picking up trash,” Baltimore City Councilmember and former public works employee Antonio Glover said during a news conference Tuesday morning outside City Hall. “And I’m here today to say that we can no longer treat our men and women like the very same thing they pick up — trash.”
City officials had previously said that Silver died late Friday afternoon after experiencing “a medical situation that required immediate assistance while he and his fellow crew members were riding in their truck.” Temperatures in the Baltimore area climbed to about 100 degrees (38 C) on Friday, according to the National Weather Service.
On Monday, the Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner attributed his death to hyperthermia, a condition that results from a person’s body overheating. His death was ruled accidental.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and Acting Department of Public Works Director Khalil Zaied said in a statement that their agencies were “working with the crew and medical professionals who tended to Mr. Silver to understand the details of what occurred.”
Local media outlets reported that Silver rang the doorbell of a northeast Baltimore resident late Friday afternoon asking for help. The person who answered the door called 911 on his behalf.
“He stopped breathing on my stoop,” Gabby Avendano told The Baltimore Sun. She said Silver appeared disoriented and clinging to life by the time he reached her doorstep. He asked her to pour water on him.
“Why no one, his coworkers, never called 911 if he was behaving like that just completely boggles my mind,” she told the newspaper.
Department of Public Works spokesperson Mary Stewart declined to answer questions about the events leading up to Silver’s death, including whether supervisors were notified about his condition earlier in the shift.
Stewart also declined to provide Silver’s age. Officials with the medical examiner’s office didn’t respond to emails requesting that information.
“Ronald Silver died serving the citizens of Baltimore,” Councilmember Zeke Cohen said during the news conference. “He deserves to be remembered with reverence. And while we honor him, we must also be honest. He should still be alive today.”
Silver’s death has prompted urgent questions about the health and safety of sanitation workers during hot summer weather, especially as record-shattering heat waves are becoming increasingly common across the globe.
Baltimore’s public works agency has come under recent scrutiny for precisely that reason.
The city’s inspector general released a report last month saying that some Department of Public Works employees didn’t have adequate access to water, ice, air conditioning and fans to help them complete their trash cleanup routes during intense summer heat. Site visits revealed broken HVAC systems at multiple solid waste yards, according to the inspector general’s office.
In response to those findings, agency leaders promised to address the issue by properly maintaining ice machines, repairing broken air-conditioners in their trash trucks, handing out Gatorade and giving employees an alternative to their traditional uniforms on hot days, among other changes.
The agency also announced Monday evening that it was suspending trash and recycling collections on Tuesday to provide its employees with mandatory heat safety training, which would include “recognizing the signs and symptoms of heat stroke and related illnesses.”
Leaders of the labor unions representing the city’s public works employees said they appreciate the agency’s efforts, but large-scale change is needed. They presented a list of demands to address working conditions, including updated policies, upgrades to facilities and better training.
“The toxic culture at DPW must be gutted. The hazing, intimidation and bullying must end,” said Patrick Moran, president of the Maryland chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. “Successive administrations ignored these issues. They got us in this mess. It is now time to clean it up and clean it up quickly.”
