Roughly 100 workers at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport contracted by a private company to handle passenger bags say they have been exposed to high heat without adequate precautions, according to an occupational hazard complaint announced Thursday.

The complaint alleges that AGI, which contracts with Spirit Airlines at BWI for baggage handling, cabin cleaning and more, failed to provide adequate drinking water and rest breaks, and failed to provide adequate heat stress training to its employees.

Tyrone Daniels, who works in a baggage room for AGI, said the employees aren’t demanding much, “just safety.”

“I want everyone to be safe doing what we do every day,” Daniels said, speaking at a news conference outside the airport.

AGI workers are not unionized but are working with SEIU 32BJ to file a complaint with the Maryland Department of Labor.

In an emailed statement, Sarah Andrews, a spokesperson for AGI, said “any suggestion” the company doesn’t take worker safety seriously is untrue.

“We are proud of our record as an employer and have established several ways employees can report safety and other concerns,” she wrote. Andrews said none of the specific claims in the complaint was reported through company channels.

Andrews also accused the union of pressuring the company to “force union representation on its employees,” adding that AGI will “protect the rights of our employees.”

Spirit Airlines didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Daniels was meant to be one of three AGI employees who spoke Thursday, he said, but the company did not let two other employees off work because management knew they would speak publicly about their complaints.

The employees planned to talk about how hot it gets in the baggage room and raise concerns about faulty equipment, including seat belts, and a lack of training and resources around biohazards, according to prepared remarks shared with The Banner. One person tasked with cleaning and lavatory work on a plane was sprayed with feces and urine but never given a change of clothes and had to continue handling passenger bags for hours, according to the prepared remarks.

Union officials said this is one of the first complaints against an employer at BWI since Maryland passed heat-related workplace standards last September, just months after a Baltimore City Department of Public Works employee died on the job from hyperthermia, commonly referred to as heat exhaustion.

In the complaint filed with Maryland Occupational Safety and Health, AGI employees allege the company didn’t let them take rest breaks from lifting heavy luggage “because it might cause a plane delay” and said AGI has not provided heat-related training in languages all employees can understand.

The heat standards apply to indoor and outdoor workplaces where workers are exposed to 80-degree temperatures and higher, except in cases of incidental exposure for less than 15 minutes. They require employers to monitor the heat index throughout the day and develop heat management plans that include access to 32 ounces of drinking water per hour per employee, rest breaks and acclimatization plans for new employees.

Employers must develop emergency response plans that detail their procedures for monitoring employee well-being and contacting emergency medical services.

The state has seen more than 30 heat-related deaths this summer, according to data from the Maryland Department of Health. This year has been Maryland’s deadliest in terms of heat-related illness since 2012.

Dinah Winnick, a spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Labor, said MOSH has taken action in about 200 complaints in which heat-related concerns were raised since April 14.

Winnick confirmed the department received this complaint, filed this week, and said officials are “processing it.”

A representative from BWI declined to comment beyond saying the complaints are related to a contractor working on behalf of an airline.

State and local lawmakers joined workers for the announcement Thursday.

Del. Veronica Turner, a Prince George’s County Democrat, called on AGI to address the workers’ complaints immediately and said the state should investigate quickly.

“Workers can’t afford to wait months and years,” she said.