Changes coming to protect Maryland workers from dangerous heat

BALTIMORE, Md. — “DPW heroes work here.” That’s what a banner reads outside the DPW sanitation yard in Cherry Hill.

But some employees, and the people who represent them say they’re not always treated like heroes.

“No workers should be pushed to such a point of exhaustion that their body fails them,” Roderick Pickett, vice president of City Union of Baltimore, saidat a rally about DPW’s work environment on August 6.

In recent weeks, we’ve reported on the citywide calls for change after two inspector general’s reports exposed unsafe working conditionsat Baltimore’s DPW yards, including broken air conditioning units, and a lack of access to cold drinking water. Then, at the beginning of the month, an employee, Ronald Silver II, died from heat exhaustion while on duty, collecting trash.

“The circumstances that led to brother Silver’s death are deeply concerning because they are largely preventable,” Patrick Moran, president of the labor union of which Silver was a member, AFSCME Maryland Council 3, said at the same rally.

But change is already in the works to protect Maryland workers from dangerous heat. For years, labor groups have pushed for Maryland Occupational Safety and Health (MOSH) to implement what’s called a “heat stress standard.” That standard would apply to all employers in the state, and basically require them to give workers breaks, and access to water and shade when temperatures are high.

There are only five states that have such standards right now – California, Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington.

Scott Schneider is one of Maryland’s members of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH). He says the push for heat stress standards in the workplace is happening on the federal level too. But the process of changing Occupational Safety and Health Administration(OSHA) regulations takes significantly longer. Schneider showed us the 33 steps it takes for OSHA to add a new rule.

“It’s gonna take probably another 2 or more years for the federal rule to get finalized. So we didn’t want to wait that long,” he told WMAR-2 News’ Elizabeth Worthington.

In Maryland, the state standard could be implemented as soon as next summer. Here’s what the draftlooks like right now.

In 2020, the General Assembly passed a bill that gave OSHA two and a half years to publish a heat stress standard. In 2022, the agency put out a draft.

“It was really inadequate. It didn’t provide the protections that workers really need. It kicked in at a much higher temperature, and one of the weird things about it was – it required that at this temperature, at 88 degrees, you had to have a program to protect workers from heat. But the program didn’t have to be written down. […] How do you enforce that?”

A month later, Wes Moore was elected governor. Schneider and other COSH members asked the legislature review committee to put a hold on the regulation. When Governor Moore appointed new heads of the labor department, COSH asked them to re-write the regulation, which they did. The draft came out in mid-July. Schneider said it’s “much better,” but he still sees room for improvements, such as factoring in radiant heat, or working in direct sunlight. The current draft standards only relies on the heat index, which takes into consideration the ambient temperature and the humidity.

There’s a virtual hearing on the proposed standards this Friday, August 16 at 1 p.m. A link to the hearing will be posted on the MOSH website. Public comment period lasts until August 26.

Under the proposed standard, when the thermometer hits 80 degrees, employers have to be ready with a written heat safety plan. At 90 degrees, workers need to be given a 10 minute break every two hours. At 100 degrees and above, it’s a 15 minute break every hour.

“These standards are not written for most employers. They’re written for the bad actors. Most employers are already doing this,” Schneider said.

Baltimore City Inspector General Isabel Cumming is relieved this issue is getting more attention, after her reports on the DPW.

“Heat stroke, heat exhaustion, it’s all very, very real. And people have jobs that are so difficult, yet they push themselves to keep working because they have families to support and everything else,” she told WMAR-2 News’ Elizabeth Worthington.,

After the death of Ronald Silver, the DPW held a mandatory heat safety training session for its employees. Under the proposed state standards, that would have already been required.

“If you knew that cramping hands, or something, was a real warning signal, then you know what to do to help yourself,” Cumming said.

She’s excited about the changes coming to Maryland’s workplaces, and hopes penalties are actually enforced.

“To really give anything teeth, you have to have consequences. This is just the world we live in.”

The City Council will be holding a hearing on “DPW Capacity in Extreme Heat” on Thursday, August 22.