The United States averaged about 35 reported grain-handling incidents per year from 2005 to 2015, about 60% to 70% of which were fatal, according to Purdue University.
INSIDE GRAIN SILO FULL
Entrapment can occur in four to five seconds, and full engulfment can result in only 22 seconds. According to OSHA, a person in a bin has only two seconds to react once grain starts flowing beneath him. One foot of grain in a bin can create about 300 pounds of pressure, so even with just two feet of grain surrounding a body, it takes an enormous amount of pull strength to lift someone out.Įntrapment and full engulfment can occur very quickly when an augur is running or grain is flowing for any other reason. Once entrapped, it is nearly impossible for a person to pull him- or herself out to safety, and very difficult for someone else to lift the person from the grain, experts say. The risk becomes extreme when machinery such as an auger is running and the grain is flowing, making it more likely that someone in the bin will be pulled down into the moving grain and suffocate. In a typical year, the grain is air-dried during storage and, when needed, an auger stirs the dry grains so they flow steadily from the bottom of the bins onto a conveyor.įarmers sometimes must enter the bins to break up clumps or clogs in order to get the grain to flow out freely - a practice that is inherently dangerous owing to the risk of entrapment or suffocation within the grain, which can move or settle almost like quicksand.Įven when stationary, grain can settle beneath someone who is inside the bin, entrapping or engulfing the person. The gray metal structures, often cylindrical in shape and holding from 1,000 bushels to up to 2 million bushels, are ubiquitous on farms in South Dakota and across the country. Grain Bins - and Risk of Entrapment - Common on Farmsįarmers typically store grains such as corn and soybeans in elevated bins from the time of harvest in the fall or early winter to use as feed or to sell in the spring or summer. The letter warned that “similar weather conditions in 2009 resulted in the industry’s highest number of injuries and fatalities.” In bold lettering, the warning began with the statement, “Grain bin deaths spike as farmers rush late harvest!” The letter provided safety recommendations and links to OSHA guidelines, and noted that due to recent heavy rains, fatalities began rising starting in August 2019. In late February, the Chicago regional office of OSHA sent a letter to commercial grain-storage operators with an urgent warning to increase safety measures to reduce accidents. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has taken note of the dangerous conditions in handling grain harvested in 2019. As a result, we have seen an uptick in situations where people have become engulfed and trapped or have died in grain bins.” It came in wet, it didn’t dry down very well and there’s a lot of broken material in the bins. “This particular crop is not storing well. “Grain quality is directly linked to safety,” Adkisson said. Those conditions make the grain flow less freely from the bins and make it more likely farmers will have to enter the bins to keep the grain moving, said Jeff Adkisson, a farmer who is vice president of the Grain and Feed Association of Illinois and also serves on the board of the national Grain Handling Safety Council. The lack of consistency and low quality of the grain make it more likely to clump, stick to the sides of a bin or form a crust over the top. Those factors from the 2019 harvest, in addition to the use of old, leaky bins on some farms, have combined to reduce the quality of grain being stored and result in a product known as “out-of-condition” grain. Heavy rainfall and brisk harvest conditions throughout 2019 across the 10-state “corn belt” that includes South Dakota led many farmers to harvest grain crops later than usual and produce grain that was immature or damper than normal. South Dakota in 2020 has already seen the death of a 27-year-old father of three in Brookings County in February and the entrapment of a farmer who was rescued from a grain bin in Hughes County in March. The number of reported grain entrapments across the country rose by 27% from 2018 to 2019, and deaths rose by 53% that year. Wet and cold weather in 2019 have created a dangerous situation this year for South Dakota farmers who store grain in bins, heightening a risk of entrapment or death that has existed on farms for generations. This article was originally published by South Dakota News Watch.
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