Grain bin entrapments in the U.S. claim roughly half their victims each year. While that is tragic beyond what words can convey, Dave Newcomb is haunted by a different number: about 60% of the people who die are the ones who climbed in to save someone else.
“A brother, uncle, sister, nephew, hired hand, whoever’s in the bin, they get in trouble, and our first reaction is we want to jump in and save them,” says Newcomb, a 35-year fire service veteran in Illinois. “Unfortunately, 60% of the people who are trying to save someone else end up being a fatality themselves.”
Why Rescues Go Wrong So Often
Each year, the Purdue Agricultural Confined Spaces Database records up to 40 grain entrapment cases in the U.S., with about 50% fatal. Roughly two‑thirds occur on farms exempt from OSHA enforcement, where formal training and equipment may be limited.
The pattern Newcomb sees is grim and familiar:
- A blockage forms in the bin.
- Grain is still moving.
- Someone enters to “fix it.”
- Others rush in after them when things go bad.
“Most incidents happen when the grain goes out of condition, it starts to rot, and it’s creating other products like CO2 and other things that replace the oxygen,” Newcomb says. “You’re walking into something you can’t see.”
He estimates about 90% of people who die in a bin do so because of air quality, not just because of the grain itself. Yet victims — and would‑be rescuers — often assume if they can talk, the air must be fine.
“I had a gentleman once I was talking to who had been trapped in a bin, and he said ‘they keep bringing this machine in to test the air,’” Newcomb recalls. “He says, ‘If I’m talking to you, the air is OK.’ I said, ‘No, not necessarily.’”
On top of air hazards, the physics of grain make “quick pull” rescues both ineffective and dangerous. In controlled tests, the research team found it can take 700 to 1,000 pounds of force to pull a 180‑pound person out of grain.
“You just can’t put a rope on them and pull them out. It’s not going to happen,” Newcomb says.
That kind of force can easily exceed what the human spine can take, notes Salah Issa, assistant professor, Agricultural Safety and Health at the University of Illinois. He references studies done on lamb spines that showed they broke at about 470 pounds of force, even before factoring in age, health or prior injuries. Issa recalls that in one California bin rescue, a worker was pulled out of grain but lost the ability to walk for months and was left with permanent damage.
Even partial entrapments are life‑threatening. Newcomb recalls being buried to mid‑chest in a training scenario:
“It was just like being shrink wrapped — you could not move,” he says. “If you moved one way, you couldn’t move back, and as you’re breathing, it changes and it’s harder and harder to exhale, the more that grain keeps filling in on you.”
The data backs that up. Issa reports that about 7% of entrapped victims with their head above the grain still suffocate.
The Hidden Risk: Volunteers, Delays And Chaos
Once 911 is called, the clock and the manpower problem both work against rural victims.
“Seventy percent of first responders in Illinois and the United States are volunteers,” Newcomb says. “Sometimes getting [responders] during the day — most anytime —can be a challenge.”
Most successful bin rescues, Newcomb adds, take four to six hours and 50 to 100 responders, often including multiple departments and technical rescue teams.
Managing that many people on a farm — plus neighbors and family members desperate to help — is its own hazard.
“Scene control is the biggest issue,” Newcomb says. “I’m going to have half a dozen or more neighbors that are wanting to help, and so accountability is a huge issue. I may have 40 people on the scene — do I know where all 40 people are?”
Even locating the exact bin can cost precious time.
“If I get a call to go to the Smith farm, but they farm on all four sides of town, which one am I heading to?” he adds. “We need a specific location.”
What Newcomb Wants Farmers To Do Now
Newcomb’s strongest advice to farmers isn’t about what to do inside the bin — it’s about what not to do, and how to set up the farm so no one has to go in at all.
1. Shut down equipment and lock it.
First, he insists, never enter a bin with grain moving.
“The big thing is, just shut the equipment off,” Newcomb says. “That is the safest thing. We want to make that grain as stable as we can.”
He urges farmers to adopt lockout/tagout habits on all unloading equipment, augers, and fans.
“We take control of the machinery, anything that can make that grain move,” he says of fire departments. “We’re going to shut it off and secure it, so that it cannot be turned back on.”
He notes one fatal case where a truck driver arrived, didn’t see anyone, and simply pulled the lever to start unloading — drowning three workers in the bin who had taken off their harnesses after assuming conditions were stable.
If you don’t have commercial lockout gear, Newcomb says even a heavy zip tie and a clear tag can save a life.
“If I took a heavy‑duty zip tie with a piece of paper that said ‘Dave’s in the bin’ and put it on the equipment, I have a barrier that stops anybody from starting it,” he says.
2. Never work in a bin alone — and don’t jump in after someone.
Newcomb calls the culture of working alone one of the most dangerous habits in grain handling on the farm.
“Delayed responses play a big role,” he says. “If you have to go in the bin, take somebody with you; it’s critical.”
Just as critical, he says, is what not to do if that person gets in trouble.
“If you see it happening, don’t go in the bin,” he says. “Once again, 60% of the people trying to save someone else end up being a fatality themselves.”
From a rescue standpoint, an outside observer is essential.
“If you are that person that’s with them, don’t go in after them,” Newcomb says. “You may now have two patients, and I’ve lost my source who can give me information when I get there.”
3. Map your farm in advance for first responders.
To cut delays and confusion, Newcomb points to farm mapping projects that have already proven useful in rescue situations.
He describes one local program where the organization photographed each farm in the area with a drone, then emergency staff marked LP tanks, main electrical disconnects, grain bins and livestock buildings.
“They laminated it, put it inside a PVC pipe, and mounted it on the utility pole by the main disconnects for the farm,” he says. “When the fire department showed up, they immediately had an aerial view of the farm and where to locate the hazards.”
As farm operations spread and become more complex, that kind of ready‑made site plan can shave minutes off response and help incident commanders put people and equipment in the right place, faster.
4. Monitor grain and plan for what you’ll do if it goes bad.
Newcomb is realistic that farmers will always want, and sometimes need, to check grain condition in the bin.
“If I had a million dollars in a suitcase, I’m going to check it every now and then, just to make sure it’s there,” he says. “That bin full of grain is like a million dollars to that farmer, and they want to maintain the quality. But there’s right ways to do it. That’s the important part — do it the safest way you can.”
Newcomb and Issa urge farmers to develop methods to move bad grain without entering the bin. The process can often be done using equipment they already own. The university‑run site grainsafety.web.illinois.edu lists strategies to modify or use existing tools so grain can be broken up or removed from outside.
“It’s not just about taking care of your grain quality,” Issa says. “Take a step beyond that, a prevention step, and start to develop strategies: How can you empty your grain bin without entering the bin?”
Rescuers Always Think “Rescue,” Not “Recovery”
From Newcomb’s perspective, one of the most important messages for farm families is to never assume a buried victim is beyond help.
“In the rescue world, we assume nothing,” he says. “The whole time we’re working, we’re working to rescue that person. We’re not working to recover.”
Data from Issa’s research shows about 12% of fully engulfed victims survive, and that number can improve when there is an observer on scene, a fast 911 call is made and no additional would‑be rescuers enter the bin.
For Newcomb, the bottom line for farmers is simple – though never easy in the moment.
“Get that call for help going out as soon as you can,” he says. “Stay out of the bin, keep one person outside, shut machinery down and lock it. That alone is going to save a lot of lives.”
Newcomb and Issa offer more helpful strategies in their webinar “When Grain Bin Rescues Go Wrong” — and what farmers can do long before 911 is ever dialed.
