Heatstroke death of Baltimore worker during trash collection prompts calls for workplace safety
BALTIMORE — 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 fainted and died of heatstroke while picking up trash during a warm summer weather.
Critics say the recent death of Ronald Silver II is a tragic result of long-standing problems within the agency, including a culture of abuse perpetuated by senior leaders and a lack of attention to basic health and safety measures.
“These men and women are doing the job that none of us want to do. They’re picking up trash,” Baltimore City Councilman 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 same thing that they’re picking up — trash.”
City officials had previously said Silver died late Friday afternoon after “experiencing a medical situation requiring immediate attention while he and his crew were traveling in their truck.” Temperatures in the Baltimore area soared to about 100 degrees (38 C) on Friday, the National Weather Service said.
On Monday, the Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner attributed his death to hyperthermia, a condition caused by a person’s body becoming overheated. His death was ruled accidental.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and Acting Public Works Director Khalil Zaied said in a statement that their agencies were “working with the crew and medical professionals who cared for Mr. Silver to understand the details of what happened.”
Local media reported that Silver rang a doorbell at a Northeast Baltimore resident’s house late Friday afternoon asking for help. The person who answered the door called 911 on his behalf.
“He stopped breathing on my doorstep,” Gabby Avendano told The Baltimore Sun. She said Silver seemed disoriented and clinging to life when he arrived at her front door. He asked her to pour water on him.
“I am completely astonished that no one, his colleagues, ever called 911 when he behaved like that,” she told the newspaper.
Department of Public Works spokeswoman Mary Stewart would not answer questions about the events leading up to Silver’s death, nor would she say whether supervisors had been informed of his condition earlier in the shift.
Stewart also declined to give Silver’s age. Officials from the coroner’s office did not respond to emails requesting that information.
“Ronald Silver died serving the citizens of Baltimore,” Councilman Zeke Cohen said during the news conference. “He deserves to be remembered with honor. And while we honor him, we must also be honest. He should be alive today.”
Silver’s death has raised urgent questions about the health and safety of cleaners during warm summer weatherspecial as record breaking heat waves are becoming increasingly common all over the world.
Baltimore’s public works agency has recently come under fire for precisely that reason.
The city’s inspector general issued a report last month saying that some Department of Public Works workers lacked adequate access to water, ice, air conditioning and fans to complete their trash pickup routes during the intense summer heat. According to the inspector general’s office, broken HVAC systems were found at multiple trash collection sites.
In light of the findings, agency leaders pledged to address the problem by, among other things, properly maintaining ice machines, repairing broken air conditioners in their garbage trucks, handing out Gatorade and offering workers an alternative to their traditional uniforms on hot days.
The agency also announced Monday night that it would suspend trash and recycling collections on Tuesday to provide its employees with mandatory heat safety training, including “recognizing the signs and symptoms of heat stroke and related illnesses.”
Leaders of the unions representing the city’s public works workers said they appreciate the agency’s efforts but that large-scale change is needed. They laid out a list of demands to address working conditions, including updated policies, facility upgrades and better training.
“The toxic culture at DPW must be eradicated. The hazing, intimidation and bullying must stop,” said Patrick Moran, president of the Maryland chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. “Sequential boards ignored these problems. They got us into this mess. Now is the time to clean it up and clean it up fast.”