For the second time this month, the Department of Public Works admitted giving erroneous information to Baltimore Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming related to her investigation into working conditions at the agency’s Bureau of Solid Waste.

The first time involved the number of sanitation workers who attended a city-run training course to understand the Workday computer system, mastery they need in order to enroll for benefits and handle other important employee matters.

DPW told Cumming that 56% of those attending class, or 39 employees, were from solid waste. After Cumming requested the names of the attendees, DPW acknowledged that just one solid waste worker had actually enrolled.

The agency blamed the misstatement on “misinterpretation of a spreadsheet.”

In a report released today, Cumming said her office asked DPW for all reported cases of on-the-job, heat-related illness between January 2021 and July 2024. The agency submitted a spreadsheet listing 16 cases.

Cumming requested the same information from Risk Management, a division of the finance department that handles worker compensation cases.

Risk Management provided records showing 26 heat-related illnesses, or about 40% more.

Both agencies relied on the same information from Sedgwick Claims Management, a third-party vendor that handles disability claims for the city.

So what accounted for the difference?

Cumming’s staff found that column numbers on DPW’s spreadsheet were not sequential and “some rows appeared to have been removed before being provided to the OIG,” she wrote.

The omitted columns involved illnesses that directly related to Cumming’s ongoing investigation of poor working conditions at DPW sanitation yards, which include the lack of cold water or Gatorade distributed to crews before they went on their runs, broken sinks and air conditioners, and, at one facility, toilet paper begrudgingly rationed out to employees.

“I believe the staff wanted to provide the most accurate information and thought the information from Sedgwick was inaccurate”  – DPW Director Khalil Zaied.

“Among the 10 illnesses omitted, employees reported descriptions that included various instances of light-headedness, dehydration, blacking out due to heat, dizziness and vomiting, heat stroke, fainting, chaffing due to excessive heat and cramping,” she reported.

In six cases, the illnesses not reported by DPW occurred on days “when temperatures reached 90°F or higher, with two that occurred on a 103° day,” the report said.

“Correcting” Inaccurate Data

In a formal response to Cumming’s report, DPW Director Khalil Zaied said there was no attempt “to obstruct or obfuscate.”

Instead, “I believe the staff wanted to provide the most accurate information and thought the information from Sedgwick was inaccurate,” Zaied said, providing this explanation:

“Evidently, when DPW staff obtained the heat-related illness report from Sedgwick, they noted and omitted instances they believed were first described as heat-related but, upon evaluation, were not. Specifically, they used the classification in columns K and L in the report to determine whether an illness was heat-related. If that was not explicitly stated on the report, it was omitted as staff believed that was the official determination by Mercy Hospital [where injured city employees are treated] as to the cause of the illness.”

“I want to be clear that this should not have occurred,” Zaied continued.

“We should have provided the information as received from Sedgwick without omission,” he wrote. “All involved have been instructed that the report should have been submitted without omission and that, in the future, extra care should be taken to ensure we are fully responsible to requests for information.”

Cumming called DPW’s omission “concerning,” especially if the same incomplete information was provided to the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MOSH), which is conducting an investigation into the death of Ronald Silver II, a sanitation worker who collapsed on his trash route on August 2 and died of hyperthermia.

Removing information about heat-related illnesses “could obstruct multiple investigations,” Cumming noted, saying that she has turned over her detailed findings “to law enforcement for further review.”