Trash and recycling will be paused on Tuesday in Baltimore to allow solid waste workers time to take mandatory heat safety training, according to a release sent out by the Department of Public Works.
The training is a requirement for workers at the Reedbird and Bowleys Lane facilities, two locations that according to reports from the Baltimore City Office of the Inspector General have at times had inadequate air conditioning and access to water for employees.
The purpose of the training, according to DPW, is to focus on the Occupations Safety Health Administration’s guidelines for “recognizing the signs and symptoms of heat stroke and related illness” and to make sure employees can recognize and address those hazards.
“While Tuesday’s training targets Reedbird and Bowleys Lane employees, this series of sessions will be offered to all DPW employees and is in addition to DPW’s ongoing heat education efforts,” wrote DPW in a news release.
This training comes after the death of Ronald Silver II, a DPW solid waste worker who died on Friday afternoon. According to reporting at The Baltimore Sun, the city medical examiner confirmed that Silver died of hyperthermia— a condition in which the body's internal temperature becomes too high i.e. heat sickness.
Gabrielle Avendano was at home when Silver knocked on her door begging for help; she told WYPR he was disoriented and expressed a desire for water before he lost consciousness. A co-worker then allegedly spoke with Avendano and told her that Silver had been complaining of pain in his leg and chest throughout his entire shift but the co-worker never reported the complaint. According to Avendano and another witness, the co-worker said he did not call emergency responders to report Silver’s medical incident.
It is unclear what, if any, policies or training DPW had in place for employees to respond to medical emergencies or heat sickness at the time of Silver’s death.
According to a statement from DPW, the agency is currently assisting the Maryland Office of Safety and Health (“MOSH”) as they investigate Silver’s death and its surrounding circumstances. DPW also reported that as part of standard procedure, the Baltimore Police Department’s Special Investigation Unit is also doing their own review into the incident.
Regular trash and recycling operations will resume on Wednesday while there will also be a make-up collection day on Saturday, August 10th. Street sweeping and residential drop-off centers will be unaffected and continue as normal on Tuesday.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has no occupational heat standard in place, although the Biden administration proposed a set of standards earlier this summer. Maryland is in the process of codifying a set of occupational heat standards, which could go into effect later this year.
