A city sanitation worker died Friday from injuries he sustained while collecting trash in a West Baltimore alley, according to a Department of Public Works news release.

Timothy Cartwell was working behind the 1800 block of Baker Street when he got trapped between a garbage truck and a wooden light pole, said Vernon Davis, a spokesperson for the Baltimore Police Department.

His death comes roughly three months after another city sanitation worker died of heatstroke on the job, raising questions about what more can be done to keep such employees safe. And last month a worker for a private waste company died after his garbage truck rolled downhill, hit him and struck four cars before crashing into a building in the Mount Vernon neighborhood.

Cartwell was transported early Friday to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead, the news release states. The Baltimore Police Department’s accident investigation unit is examining the circumstances of his death.

AFSCME Maryland, the union that represents city sanitation workers, called Cartwell’s death “another tragedy at DPW.”

“We have been demanding a variety of health and safety information from the city as well as negotiations to enhance the training and protection of the workforce,” the statement continued. “Far more needs to be done.”

Leaders of the Department of Public Works visited the hospital Friday to provide support to Cartwell’s family and colleagues, according to the news release. Counseling services are available to staff affected by the tragedy through the city’s employee assistance program.

City Councilmember Zeke Cohen issued a statement mourning Cartwell’s death.

“I am devastated to learn of the death of Timothy Cartwell, the second DPW worker to die in the line of duty in recent months,” he said. “Every worker deserves to know that they’ll return home safely each day.”

Cohen said he was committed to working with other members of City Council to “make sure our employees have safe work places and are treated with respect.”

“We will find answers for what happened to Mr. Cartwell,” he added. “City Council will take action to increase transparency and hold the Department of Public Works fully accountable.”

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott also expressed his condolences in a statement he shared on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“We are devastated by the loss of one of our DPW family, Timothy Cartwell,” Scott wrote. “I’ve spoken with members of his family and extended the heartbreak that the entire City of Baltimore shares with them.”

Following the heat-related death of sanitation worker Ronald Silver II in August, Scott hired a Washington-based law firm to review the city’s workplace safety policies. The firm found the department had no procedures for dealing with illness caused by heat, according to a report released last month.

The firm also found the department had inadequate facilities, vehicles and training, and a toxic work culture in which employees who raised safety concerns feared retaliation. The report recommends, among other things, a “stop work trigger” for especially hot days and the hiring of a safety ombudsman.

In a statement, Scott last month called the report “an important inflection point” in efforts to improve working conditions for the city’s frontline workers.