Inside the facilities of the Baltimore City Department of Public Works, employees have grown accustomed to toilets and sinks not working, toiletries unavailable and deplorable conditions overall. But what surely frustrates and demoralizes DPW employees most is the prison-like culture — appropriate for jailbird inmates in El Salvador’s notorious Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (perhaps) but not public servants in Charm City.

The city agency is plagued by bad management including retaliatory behavior by supervisors, a severe lack of training and oversight and unsafe protocols and conditions that have led to the deaths of two employees last year. For decades, these shameful conditions have been largely unnoticed or ignored by elected officials, including Mayor Brandon Scott and members of the Baltimore City Council. It’s their job to look out for the hundreds of city employees, as well as, of course, the people of Baltimore.

Yet despite paying out settlements of nearly $2 million a year since at least 2019 for injury claims by DPW employees — claims submitted, on average, once per workday — the culture and conditions have been ignored. But then Baltimore City Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming released a scathing 48-page report last year shining a light on the scandalous working conditions that employees had been complaining about for decades.

IG Cumming and her team observed broken urinals, sinks and water fountains in several DPW facilities. In one instance, urine and feces flowed from a work trailer until someone found the shutoff valve. Many facilities lacked toilet paper, nor did they have cold beverages available for employees having to endure working in extreme heat beyond 100 degrees. She also found that DPW bosses were sometimes misstating work data, perhaps to cover up their malfeasance.

Still, Baltimore City Councilman Antonio “Tony” Glover tells of a greater insult to the dignity of DPW workers. Councilman Glover, himself a DPW employee for nearly two decades before being elected to represent the residents of East Baltimore, says that even worse than the deplorable working conditions is, in his words, the “prison-like culture” of the agency. Supervisors tell employees to “get over it” or “stop being so soft” when reporting injuries incurred on their routes. There were physical threats made by coworkers when they decided to call out, leaving the team shorthanded on their routes. So the horrible conditions, coupled with the fearful retaliatory culture, makes this government agency weirdly similar to the infamous Maryland Penitentiary in Baltimore, the state’s oldest prison, closed a decade ago and subsequently torn down.

Inmate deaths continue to be an issue for state prisons with a 28-year-old found dead in his cell at Eastern Correctional Institution in Somerset County on March 29. Meanwhile, DPW has suffered two deaths of its employees in a four-month period last year. Ronald Silver II died of a heatstroke in August, followed by the horrific death of Timothy Cartwell in November, crushed by a trash truck. Indeed, an agency that reportedly “forces” employees to work through unsafe conditions has seen a steady rise in heat-related health crises.

Silver’s crew made 1,153 stops on a day when the heat index was some 108 degrees. By contrast, the industry standard is 950 stops. So the ill-fated team was working 20% more than the norm — and on a day of dangerously high heat.

These hazards appear rooted in a culture of arrogance: The attitudes of supervisors, enabling unsafe conditions and persistent practices of discrimination and demoralizing demands. Workers worked silently through injuries for fear of losing their jobs or being disciplined by threat of suspension. Bosses are often dismissive and rude to employees, not believing them when concerns are raised — and sometimes threatening even more severe conditions or other retaliation. The underlying issue: There’s no accountability for supervisors who should be ensuring a safe work environment while at the same time, of course, providing efficient city services.

So what has been the response from city officials? Mayor Scott says these bad conditions were inherited and pre-date his administration and so are not his fault. Yet such excuses quickly wear thin. Instead of finger-pointing and blame-shifting, it’s time for strong leadership. It’s time for responsible officials to be responsive.

The citizens of Baltimore want no more buck-passing in City Hall. They are yearning for reform, even as DPW employees are literally risking their lives. It’s past time to change the DPW culture and improve the conditions so that city workers can safely and effectively serve the city.