![]() 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. "It was fortunate because we were able to manoeuvre the track hoe rapidly to undermine the one side and push the elevator over.This article was originally published by South Dakota News Watch. We had already prepared everything so the ground was flat all the way around it," Angus said. The crew was set to begin Phase 4 of the five-phase project deconstruction process early next week, which would have involved laying the shell, or crib, of the structure onto its side and disassembling the large two-by-six spans of wood.Ī connected drive shed and an office building had already been removed and dismantled. ![]() "I've never felt such intense heat before," Angus said. The crew happened to have a track hoe excavator on site to push the elevator down in a controlled direction, letting it fall into a burning heap. "We knew we had to get the elevator down in a hurry," in order to protect hydro lines above it and to ensure it didn't collapse and damage the CPR tracks that run adjacent to it, he said. "It was fully engulfed within 14 minutes," Angus said. Then it all changed. In the last hour, the wind switched to coming from the east, toward the Lake of the Woods elevator. (Submitted by Gordon Goldsborough)Īll day, a light wind was blowing out of the south, "the perfect direction away from the elevators," he said. Elva's Lake of the Woods Milling Company grain elevator as seen in September.
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