Critics say report shows city “closed its eyes,” allowing a worker’s preventable death from extreme heat
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“This is an agency [DPW] that refused to listen to warnings. This is an agency that refused to respond to precautionary, constructive reports from the Office of the Inspector General. An agency that literally closed its eyes and shut its ears to a history of heat-related episodes,” said the attorney for Silver’s family, Thiru Vignarajah, speaking outside City Hall.
The report noted, as had IG Isabel Mercedes Cumming earlier, the lack of policies and procedures to safeguard solid waste workers amid high heat – and the fact that many employees had fallen ill on the job earlier.
“Our investigation revealed a history of heat-related medical emergencies among the solid waste collectors such as fainting, severe cramping, vomiting and more severe physical responses, with an inadequate agency response from DPW,” the report by Conn Maciel Carey LLP said.
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Silver, who was hired after the safety talks stopped, received no extreme heat illness training, and neither did his supervisors, the report concluded.
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The city never released its contract with Conn Maciel Carey nor answered questions about how much the firm was paid, but the report provides some information on the scope of its work...
The lawyers said they interviewed “more than 35 DPW employees, including chief administrators, safety enforcement officers, Control One supervision, solid waste supervisors and solid waste frontline workers (drivers and laborers) responsible for waste collection at the Reedbird and Bowley’s Lane facilities.”...
Staff complained to the lawyers that, while the city warns citizens to stay indoors during Code Red high heat days and allows some employees to leave work early, it required solid waste drivers and laborers to complete their routes.
Supervisors did not enforce cool-down rest breaks, according to the report, creating “an incentive for the frontline workers to push through the work to finish as quickly as possible because they are permitted to finish their task work early and still be paid for their entire shift.”
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