Baltimore officials have hooked up showers and are close to hiring a laundry service for sewer workers, who have been concerned about taking germs home with them on their uniforms and skin.

The steps come six months after workers filed a union grievance, complaining that a lack of showers and laundry service posed a health risk for them and their families.

"This is one of those instances that the right thing was done," said Duane Baysmore, who represents water and wastewater workers for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 44. "It took a little longer than expected, but we're moving in the right direction."

On Tuesday, workers put the finishing touches on two trailers with showers and lockers at the Franklin Street Utility Maintenance Yard, giving the 124 employees based at the west-side facility a place of their own to wash up.

After the grievance was filed in June, the workers got permission to use showers at a public works building across the street from theirs.

City officials also say they are close to finalizing a contract for laundry service to clean uniforms.

Until that happens, workers will continue to be responsible for laundering their uniforms. Many do so at home, in the same machines used to wash the family laundry. Workers and workplace safety experts have criticized that practice, saying it could make them and their families sick.

The city is spending about $54,000 to rent the two trailers - outfitted with a total of 13 showers - for 18 months. The city plans to install showers in the maintenance facility as part of a larger renovation project.

The laundry service contract has not been finalized, but it is estimated to cost about $150,000 a year.

"The [public works] director made it clear we certainly understood the concerns of the workers, and this is certainly an important step to address their needs," said Kurt L. Kocher, spokesman for the Department of Public Works.

Glenard S. Middleton Sr., president of AFSCME Local 44, praised the city for addressing what he considers a serious health threat to workers.

"It was the most atrocious thing I've ever seen in my life, but they have changed it now," he said. "They worked with us."

Laundry service and showers are available to most sewer workers across the country - including those in Anne Arundel and Howard counties - because of the risk that hepatitis A and other illnesses carried in wastewater could contaminate home laundry, according to Daniel Kaufman, a national spokesman for AFSCME, which represents 40,000 of those workers nationwide.

State and federal workplace safety rules do not require the city to launder sewer workers' uniforms. But workplace health experts, including those at the Cincinnati-based National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, recommend against home laundering.