Baltimore council holds oversight hearing after IG finds deadly safety culture at DPW solid waste bureau

Baltimore City Council held an investigative hearing into the Bureau of Solid Waste on Oct. 12, 2025, after the Office of the Inspector General released a multi‑part inquiry finding persistent safety and management failures in the Department of Public Works (DPW).

The inspector general told the council the office’s investigation found a “toxic work culture” and longstanding operational shortfalls that contributed to six worker deaths and 1,627 reported injuries between 2019 and 2024, and recommended pay, training and safety changes. The DPW director described steps the agency is taking — including new standard operating procedures for heat and incident response, fleet upgrades and a proposed pay increase to be negotiated with unions — while union leaders and rank‑and‑file workers pressed for faster bargaining and larger wage gains.

Why it matters: Solid waste crews perform services at every household in Baltimore. Council members and the inspector general said improving worker safety and pay is both a labor and a public‑health concern because injury rates and personnel shortages affect route reliability.

The inspector general, Isabelle Mercedes, told the council her office conducted an eight‑month inquiry that included undercover observation and interviews with more than 30 employees. “The DPW that the Office of the Inspector General encountered earlier this year is not the DPW of today … However, the DPW of June of ’24, first reported by the OIG, is the same as the DPW reported by the Office of the Inspector General in December 2019,” Mercedes said. The IG said the office documented broken HVACs, inoperable fixtures, methane leaks, inadequate training and a culture in which workers feared retaliation for reporting safety concerns.

Deputy inspector general Matthew Neal walked the council through injury data from…