State of Safety

Over a third of survey respondents said they have experienced workplace violence, and over 56% have had a health or safety concern about their working conditions. When looking at just state employees in Unit H (which includes correctional and public safety employees), the percentage of those who say they have experienced workplace violence doubles to 66%.

There have been a number of high-profile cases that show how dangerous state jobs can be:

• Two Maryland Department of Transportation employees, Robert Dempsey and Dipakkumar Patel, were killed on the job just days apart earlier this year.
• Assaults and homicides in the Division of Corrections have reached all-time highs.
• Staff continue to be assaulted in state hospitals and in Department of Juvenile Services facilities. At Green Ridge Youth Center, almost half of the staff at one facility were reported to be out on injury leave.

On May 31, 2024, Parole and Probation Agent Davis Martinez, 33, was killed in the line of duty. Agent Martinez was a member of AFSCME Local 3661, which represents state employees in the Department of Parole and Probation.

As a result of Agent Martinez’s tragic death, AFSCME Maryland Council 3  worked with labor allies and coalition partners to pass the Davis Martinez Public Employee Safety and Health Act. The legislation reformed Maryland’s occupational safety and health law by subjecting public employers to financial penalties for violations of the law; enhanced reporting and record keeping requirements on public employees’ safety and health; established a Public Employee Safety and Health Unit within the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health administration (MOSH); and required MOSH to promulgate a workplace violence prevention standard on or before October 1, 2026. 

See also: MOSH’s Annual Report (Safety and Health in Public Bodies)

Pictured: Confiscated weapons at a Hagerstown correctional facility

In Maryland’s Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS), the staffing crisis has created dire safety concerns for staff and for incarcerated individuals. This safety crisis looks like increased assaults on staff and incarcerated individuals, reduced programming and rehabilitation opportunities for those incarcerated, and increased tensions in our state prisons.

Whereas previously Maryland’s state prisons were functional but threadbare, they are now unable to safely operate. Many housing units are routinely staffed at less than half of what would be considered a safe staffing level. A significant number of incarcerated individuals are spending 23 hours a day locked in their cells, akin to solitary confinement, causing increased agitation and unrest in our prisons.

Add to this that correctional officers are regularly confiscating weapons and that the number of seizures has only gone up in recent months. We are on the precipice of even more violent incidents. Staff and incarcerated individuals are already bearing the cost, primarily with their lives.

Data provided to AFSCME Maryland from the Department of Juvenile Services also paints a bleak picture. On average, from June 2024 until now, there are about 15 youth-on-staff assaults every month — or about one assault every other day.

Short staffing places public employees at greater risk of violence in the workplace. Short staffing makes it more difficult to respond to emergencies in the workplace, delays the delivery of essential public services — causing agitation among people in the state's care, and results in mandatory overtime, which leads to burnout and fatigue of existing staff. 

Developing a Workplace Violence Prevention Standard for the Public Sector in Maryland

In late June and early July of this year, MOSH conducted a series of stakeholder sessions throughout Maryland to receive input and feedback on the promulgation of the workplace violence prevention standard, as required by the Davis Martinez Public Employee Safety and Health Act. AFSCME members across Maryland stood up to share their stories of workplace violence and demand a standard that provides meaningful protections for public employees across Maryland.

At the conclusion of the stakeholder sessions, MOSH will publicize a draft of the workplace violence prevention standard. Our union, and the public, will have the opportunity to review and comment on the draft standard before MOSH promulgates a final standard that will have the force of law on our public employers.

Generally, workplace violence prevention standards operate like many other occupational safety and health regulatory standards designed to protect workers. They begin with a risk assessment to evaluate the hazards present that could place workers at risk of violence. Using OSHA’s hierarchy of controls, employers must find ways to abate or reduce those hazards to create safer work environments for their workers. Workers must be free to report incidents of threats of violence or acts of violence, without fear of retaliation, and the employer must record these incidents

 Training workers on the hazards in their workplace and methods the employer is utilizing to address those hazards is key to protecting employees. Through all of this, workers and their unions must be involved to develop, implement, and administer these plans at their worksites. Workers on the front lines know the hazards they face and are key to the development of these plans. 

Heat stress is a significant issue impacting the safety and health of workers. Millions of workers in our country are exposed to high heat both indoors and outdoors.

Heat illnesses and injuries vary from heat rash, cramping, exhaustion, or even strokes, which may cause death.

Research based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that between 1992 and 2020, heat stress caused approximately 33,000 serious lost-time injuries and illnesses and the deaths of 963 workers in the U.S. However, current data likely under reports the impact heat has on workers. Recent national research has estimated that as many as 28,000 workers every year, and likely more, suffer workplace injuries as a result of the heat. 

Across the state, AFSCME members on the front lines work under high heat conditions for much of the year. Tragically on August 2, 2024, AFSCME Local 44 member Ronald Silver II lost his life on the job due to heat exhaustion. Mr. Silver worked for the Baltimore City Department of Public Works in sanitation. 

Shortly thereafter, on September 30, 2024, Maryland’s heat stress standard took effect. 

Heat index at Roxbury Correctional Institution

After years of advocacy by AFSCME, labor allies, and worker safety advocates, the Maryland General Assembly passed legislation requiring MOSH to adopt regulations to protect workers from heat related illness and injury caused by heat stress. Maryland’s heat stress standard (the standard) establishes common sense, but vitally important protections for workers. 

The standard applies to both public and private sector employers whose employees are exposed to a heat index that equals or exceeds 80 degrees Fahrenheit in the area where the employee is working (indoor or outdoor).

Generally, the standard requires employers to keep employees safe from heat illness and injury by:

1. monitoring the heat index in their work areas;
2. developing, implementing, and maintaining a written heat-related illness prevention and management plan;
3. properly acclimatizing workers before they are exposed to heat;
4. providing employees with shaded rest breaks or alternative cooling measures if shade is not available;
5. access to 32 ounces of cool drinking water per hour at no cost to the employee;
6. implementation of high heat procedures, including more frequent rest breaks, when the heat index exceeds 90 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit;
7. training for employees. 

The state must ensure that every state worker is protected from heat and safe on the job. The state must act as a model employer by strictly adhering to Maryland’s heat stress standard and prioritizing state workers’ safety and health, particularly protecting state workers from heat during the summer months. Progress has been made, but for far too many state workers, the reality on the ground is that more must be done. 

Nearly half (48%) of survey respondents have concerns about aging state infrastructure.

In just the last few years, AFSCME members have flagged a number of infrastructure issues, including:

• Legionella outbreaks in state buildings
• Mold issues
• Flooding and plumbing issues
• Pest and rodent infestations
• Poor conditions in state prisons, including jail doors that do not operate correctly and require specialized maintenance contracts, broken air conditioning, and broken and aging fences

These dilapidated facilities and hazardous conditions are unacceptable as a work environment for state employees, and they are unacceptable for the incarcerated individuals and clients who are living in state 24/7 facilities.

Photos of pest and rodent issues at Spring Grove Hospital Center

It is a failure of a duty of care to house people in rodent and bug infested facilities, in facilities without running water, and with no working AC and heating systems. The State is simply not doing enough to remedy these issues, often taking months upon months to address critical facility maintenance concerns, and leaving populations of people to languish in State care. A budget analysis of the Department of General Services shows that from January 2025 to January 2026, the overall size of the facilities renewal backlog grew by 33% to $345.2 million.

AFSCME members are at the forefront of advocating for better conditions for themselves and the people in their custody of care, and we need real State partners who will invest in the desperately needed maintenance that is required to ensure people can live and work safely in the State’s 24/7 facilities.