Baltimore DPW adds new heat safety measures ahead of heat wave

Baltimore City workers are taking extra safety precautions in preparation for this week's extreme heat wave, with temperatures expected to reach 100 degrees.

The heat index will make temperatures feel as hot as 105 degrees during the afternoon from Wednesday through Saturday.

New heat safety procedures for DPW workers

The Baltimore Department of Public Works says they have added protocols to keep employees safe all summer, especially on the brutally hot days.

"We actually started meeting about this last week. We met as a whole city, but we also started doing work internally," Baltimore City Public Works Director Matthew Garbark said.

Garbark said DPW crews will have coolers with water and Gatorade on every truck, and all trucks and facilities were checked proactively to ensure the air conditioning is working properly.

Crews will also be required to take 15-minute breaks every hour.

With heat indexes expected to exceed 105 degrees, these precautions are among their top-tier restrictions.

"We are implementing our heat on his prevention plan, which goes into effect at 80 degrees, 90 degrees, and 100 degrees," Garbark said. "That's heat index, not temperature. So different standards apply during each one of those thresholds."

Safety precautions follow DPW workers' 2024 death

These precautions come into play following the 2024 death of Ronald Silver II, a sanitation worker who died on the job from heat-related illness.

Garbark said the department has done extensive training since the tragedy to be able to identify heat-related illnesses before they become dangerous.

"We trained all of our supervisors to make contact with the employees, to make sure that they are able to focus, to look for potential signs of heat illness," Garback said. "If there is any question at all, they are going to the hospital and they will be taken off the job."

According to Garbark, the department is also suspending recycling for the week so crews can spend less time outside, and they will start collecting trash at 5 a.m., to avoid the hottest parts of the day.

"If folks can bring their trash out the night before, that will let us be able to hit these routes early in the morning, beginning at five in the morning," Garbark said. "A lot of people sometimes call in and say we didn't collect because we actually came earlier, so if people could put their stuff out the night before they collections, that's really good."

DPW has also issued a voluntary water restriction and are asking residents to do what they can to conserve water.