Power lines should be underground to prevent inadvertent contact when augers, ladders, or other equipment are raised into operating position.
Power take off (PTO) shafts should be properly covered to prevent entanglement.Īugers should be adequately covered to prevent contact with the auger screw when operating. The power source to any equipment should be turned off before any repairs are made. Locking the power system out is ideal to keep an unknowing person restarting the equipment during the repair. 1 Additionally, out of 2117 confined space incidents between 19, 1276 cases were fatal (60%). 1 Grain entrapment or engulfment accounted for 1263 of these incidents. The handling and storing of grain would seem to be a safe activity but it is far from it when an obituary describes the death of a family member or employee due to a grain related accident. The accident can be as innocuous as placing a small child on grain in a wagon. Within moments the child can start sinking into the grain and without supervision can succumb to suffocation.Īt the end of 2019, the Purdue Agricultural Confined Space Incident Database (PACSID) had documented 1496 grain storage and handling facility incidents between 19. Train family and employees about grain facility hazards and have emergency procedures in place.Īgricultural activities can be dangerous because of the size and complexity of equipment used for tillage, planting, spraying, harvesting, feeding livestock, grain storage, and many more activities. Beyond the equipment itself, proper safety equipment and clothing may be needed for agricultural activities such as pesticide applications, cleaning grain bins, and working in dusty conditions.Never enter grain bins without proper safety equipment.Never enter grain bins when unloading equipment is operating.Grain handling facilities are hazardous and off limits to anyone not authorized.