{"id":10033,"date":"2024-08-23T17:36:18","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T21:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/?p=10033"},"modified":"2024-08-24T14:22:57","modified_gmt":"2024-08-24T18:22:57","slug":"baltimore-hires-anti-osha-law-firm-to-investigate-worker-heat-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2024\/08\/23\/baltimore-hires-anti-osha-law-firm-to-investigate-worker-heat-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Baltimore Hires Anti-OSHA Law Firm to Investigate Worker Heat Death"},"content":{"rendered":"

W<\/span>e wrote last week about the tragic workplace heat death of sanitation worker Ronald Silver II<\/a>\u00a0who died of heat stroke after picking up trash in temperature exceeding 100 degrees.\u00a0 Silver’s death followed several reports of abysmal working conditions in Department of Public Works facilities including foul bathroom and non-functioning air-conditioners, broken ice machines and water fountains.\u00a0 \u00a0Water, Gatorade and toilet paper were often unavailable for DPW workers or were stored in locked closets. Workers have also characterized the DPW culture<\/a> as toxic and report frequent cases of retaliation when workers complain about working conditions.<\/p>\n

Michael Stanley, an AFSCME 3 union stewards and employee who picks up trash around the harbor, said supervisors have a \u201cbullying approach\u201d toward their subordinates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t do things, they find a way to punish you,\u201d Stanley said.<\/p>\n

Following Silver’s death, the Mayor promised an independent investigation of the incident and the working conditions that DPW workers endure.<\/p>\n

So imagine everyone’s surprise when the City announced that it had hired<\/a> the pro-business, anti-OSHA lawfirm Conn Maciel Carey LLP<\/a> to investigate Silver’s death and issue recommendations. The Mayor’s office stated that it hired Conn <\/a>Maciel to develop a review and recommendations that “will support the department\u2019s efforts to develop a comprehensive occupational health and safety program to protect DPW employees.”<\/p>\n

But the law firm is known for taking positions that weaken OSHA standards, leaving city workers and unions skeptical about the effectiveness of any recommendations the firm may issue. There is no federal heat standard, but federal OSHA is working on a national standard that is not expected to be issued within the next two years. The state of Maryland is also working on a standard which should be issued sooner.<\/p>\n

\n

“Supervisors have a ‘bullying approach’ toward their subordinates.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t do things, they find a way to punish you\u201d — Michael Stanley, AFSCME union steward and sanitation worker<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Most recently, Conn Maciel provided comments<\/a> on OSHA’s proposed heat standard. The comments were submitted last year before OSHA’s official proposal, and opposed the inclusion of indoor workers (stating that they should be covered in a separate standard.) The law firm claimed that an OSHA standard would be economically burdensome and urged OSHA to focus on training. They argued that OSHA’s heat standard should have a more “performance based” approach,\u00a0 leaving providing general guidance, but leaving specific requirements to the discretion of employers.<\/p>\n

Conn Maciel has also organized the \u00a0Employers Heat Illness Prevention\/Protection Coalition<\/a>, a group of businesses who oppose as strong OSHA heat standard.<\/p>\n

Why Chose an Industry Law Firm<\/strong>?<\/h2>\n

Given the obvious need for a strong heat program, it is a mystery why Baltimore hired Conn-Maciel.<\/p>\n

All three Baltimore news media — the Baltimore Sun<\/a>, the Baltimore Brew<\/a> and the Baltimore Banner<\/a> wrote about the controversy shortly before the Baltimore City Council held a hearing on Silver’s death and the working conditions in Baltimore’s DPW facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy question is why the city of Baltimore would hire them?\u201d said Jordan Barab, who served as a deputy assistant secretary at the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) between 2009 and 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s got to be hundreds of good, decent consulting firms you could hire that aren\u2019t in the middle of the political controversy over the weakening of federal standards,\u201d said Barab, who now writes a newsletter about workplace safety and labor issues.<\/p>\n

Given that there’s no mystery about how to protect workers against heat, and that Maryland OSHA is investigating the case, it’s not clear what the Mayor’s goal was<\/p>\n

The performance-based approach that industry lobbyists are calling for may be reasonable for refineries or chemical plants \u201cwith very complex processes,\u201d Barab said, but it makes no sense when it comes to protecting workers from sweltering hot conditions. \u201cWith heat we know what\u2019s needed: water, shade, rest, acclimatization, and a training and emergency response plan,\u201d he said. \u201cThose five are the basic elements that everybody knows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott Schneider, who has worked as an industrial hygienist with labor unions for 40 years, said the opposition to heat standards amounts to a \u201creflexive antagonism to any kind of standards, no matter how beneficial or common sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to let people get used to the heat. That saves lives,\u201d said Schneider, a member of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health. \u201cBut the industry view is that everybody should work 110% every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Employer resistance to indoor workplace heat standards, he argued, is also beyond the pale.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t tell me that people that work in restaurants, in laundries, in boiler rooms and even teachers in buildings without air conditioning aren\u2019t very uncomfortable. Are they going to die from distress? Yeah, someone will.\u201d<\/p>\n

City Council Condemns the Selection<\/h2>\n

The Baltimore City Council held a hearing yesterday to explore the conditions at DPW and Silver’s death.\u00a0 The leaders of AFSCME Council 3 and the City Union of Baltimore (an affiliate of AFT) who represent DPW workers condemned the choice of the law firm and question why the City selected them.<\/p>\n

Union leaders and former Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials have\u00a0raised concerns about the firm\u2019s selection<\/a>\u00a0given its history of representing employers in their efforts to weaken OSHA regulations. One AFSCME leader likened the firm to the fox guarding the henhouse.<\/p>\n

Council members joined the chorus of opposition Thursday, expressing exasperation over the firm\u2019s selection. [Councilman Antonio] Glover, who worked at DPW before serving on the council, demanded to know who selected the firm and why.<\/p>\n

Stephen Salsbury, Baltimore deputy solicitor, said he chose the firm<\/a> because of its experience with occupational safety and because the firm allegedly has \u201cniche technical expertise\u201d in heat illnesses and injury prevention. Union leaders and Council members were not buying it. Salsbury pointed out that one of the lawyers at Conn Maciel was also an industrial hygienist who had once worked for Michigan OSHA.<\/p>\n

Glover asked why the city did not convene a committee that included frontline officials to conduct the review.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the experts. We\u2019re telling you what we want. It feels like things are falling on deaf ears,\u201d Glover said to applause from a large crowd of DPW workers and union officials in council chambers.<\/p>\n

Councilman Zeke Cohen asked Salsbury if he could cancel the contract. Salsbury responded only promising that the City Council and the unions would be able to review the law firm’s recommendations after the report is issued.<\/p>\n

Silver’s family, represented by former mayoral candidate Thiru Vignarajah, was also not pleased.<\/p>\n

The family and Vignarajah held a news conference Thursday morning where they questioned why the city opted to hire outside counsel to complete the report rather than conducting an internal review as it did after a mass shooting last summer in the city\u2019s Brooklyn neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Silver\u2019s mother, Faith Johnson, addressed the council Thursday flanked by other family members. She implored the body to not play politics with her son\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m angry. I\u2019m devastated, but we as a family will turn that pain into purpose,\u201d she said. \u201cThat purpose has to be to do what needed to be done before my son died.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bottom Line<\/h2>\n

It’s a mystery why city chose Conn Maciel for this job, and little about the reasoning for the city’s hiring decision was revealed at yesterday’s City Council hearing.<\/p>\n

As I told the Baltimore media outlets, figuring out how to prevent heat-related illness and death is not rocket science. The elements of an effective program are well known, and have been well known for decades: water, shade, rest, acclimatization, training and an emergency rezones plan.\u00a0 Maryland OSHA is currently investigating the death. Because there is no heat standard,\u00a0 MOSH will likely issue a General Duty Clause violation, providing a list of measures the city can take to prevent heat-related illness.\u00a0 If the City wants a more in-depth evaluation of the Department’s problems, it has only to look at the recent reports of DPW working conditions. And there are any number of workplace safety and health consultants (as opposed to corporate-oriented law firms) that can provide the city with an effective heat program.<\/p>\n

“If this city was really interested in reviewing their safety policies, they should bring in a true safety professional, not a law firm focused on fighting back against OSHA protections and hoping to weaken safety rules,\u201d — Debbie Berkowitz, former OSHA chief of staff<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

OSHA’s proposed heat standard would be a good place to start.<\/p>\n

As I wrote before<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Had Maryland\u2019s heat standard been in effect (or a federal standard), it is likely that Ron Silver would be alive today.\u00a0 He would have had access to water and rest breaks. If he had gotten sick anyway, his trained co-workers would have immediately recognized the signs of heat illness and implemented the emergency response program.\u00a0 Once Maryland finalizes its program, workers in 44 states will still labor every day in the heat without the simple protections that could save their lives.<\/p>\n

“If this city was really interested in reviewing their safety policies, they should bring in a true safety professional, not a law firm focused on fighting back against OSHA protections and hoping to weaken safety rules,\u201d said\u00a0 Debbie Berkowitz, chief of staff at OSHA from 2009 to 2014.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We wrote last week about the tragic workplace heat death of sanitation worker Ronald Silver II\u00a0who died of heat stroke after picking up trash in temperature exceeding 100 degrees.\u00a0 Silver’s death followed several reports of abysmal working conditions in Department of Public Works facilities including foul bathroom and non-functioning air-conditioners, broken ice machines and water […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[252],"tags":[141],"class_list":["post-10033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heat","tag-maryland"],"yoast_head":"\nBaltimore Hires Anti-OSHA Law Firm to Investigate Worker Heat Death - 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