DPW

An outside law firm found a lack of training and knowledge about heat safety. They also found a culture in which employees were afraid to speak up about safety concerns out of fears over retaliation.

Khalil Zaied will lead an agency that has been marred by several scandals that include water quality issues, poor service delivery and reports of a toxic work culture.

“If the rats have a food source, a water source, shelter, they're going to be around and no amount of bait we use will mitigate that.”

The city has announced that they have hired an independent firm to audit policies at the Department of Public Works, particularly heat safety practices.

Unions call for hearings into workplace conditions, additional health and safety training, as well as a full-time OIG investigator dedicated to DPW.

The pause and training are a direct result of Ronald Silver II’s death, a solid waste worker who died on Friday while reportedly showing signs of heat stress.

The city was under a “Code Red” heat alert on Friday. Witnesses say Silver expressed feeling hot before he passed out.

The inspector general warns conditions could violate labor standards and union agreements.

“The earliest date we can resume weekly recycling for the entire city, would be at the end of February,” said Richard Luna, the interim director of the Department of Public Works.

Twelve million gallons. That’s how much sewage Baltimore’s Department of Public Works estimates was dumped into the Inner Harbor last week after heavy…