In the past several decades, hundreds of injuries and deaths have occurred in grain bins across the country. Few people realize the hazards from flowing grain, including the risk of engulfment, entrapment and suffocation. Today we look at some of the common hazards as part of our series Close Calls: Stories of Survival.
A grain bin engulfment can happen in the blink of an eye and cause serious injury or suffocation resulting in death. Flowing grain entrapments fall into four primary categories:
- Engulfment in a Flowing Column of Grain. Bill Field, professor of agricultural and biological engineering and leader of the Purdue Ag Safety and Health Program, says: “When the grain is flowing, it’s common to scrap the walls or break up crusted grain. Get too close to the center and that center is moving at about the same volume or capacity as the auger that’s emptying the bin, so it only takes a few seconds for your body to get into that flow and you almost go to the floor.”
- Collapse of Horizontal Crusted Grain Surface. This happens when grain spoils, forms a crust and becomes compacted. Farmers often enter the bin to break it up. “There’s a surface on the grain and that grain surface will be very compact and you can walk on it,” Field explains. However, you might not realize there’s a void underneath areas or a hot spot and if you break through and you end up getting pulled into the flow of grain and getting entrapped.”
- Collapse of Vertical Crusted Grain Surface. Field says this is where spoiled or caked grain stands in almost a vertical column. “It looks like a statue or a column standing in the middle of the bin and farmers will try to go in there and break it up from the base. It’s a very unstable column of grain, just molded together, and if it collapses it will often bury the farmer.”
- Entrapment or Suffocation in Grain Transport Vehicles. This includes grain carts, wagons and trucks and often occurs during the unloading operation. “People have been caught in truckloads of grain when trying to break up corn, beans or whatever is wet because it sealed up overnight and become difficult to empty. They’ll get on top of that grain and try to break it up, and the next thing you see is they’re down in that truck.”
Field says it only takes four or five seconds for a farmer who enters a grain bin with the unloader running to be submerged to the point of becoming helpless. It takes less than 20 seconds to be completely submerged in flowing grain. Again, Field says most grain bin accidents occur when farmers are trying to move out-of-condition grain, so he recommends keeping grain in good condition with proper management.
Learn more at Purdue Extension’s Agricultural Confined Spaces website.
(Thanks to National Farmers Union for the use of this farm safety video.)
