Steps for Safe Bin Entry, If Unavoidable Mark Daniels, CHS director of health and safety, recommends avoiding entry of grain bins whenever possible by careful planning and maintaining bin and grain condition and quality. If you must enter grain storage, however, review these steps based on OSHA standards to help determine whether it is safe to enter: • Entry from the side is generally safer than top entry. Side entry where grain is higher than waist-deep requires additional equipment. • Ensure all mechanical, electrical, hydraulic and pneumatic equipment that could present a hazard is de-energized or locked out. • Inspect for crusted grain. Do not walk on crusted grain without a lifeline. Do not work below crusted or bridged grain. • Provide natural or forced ventilation prior to and during bin entry. Measure oxygen levels inside the bin before entering. • Use respiratory protection equipment if hazardous molds or dust could be present. • Station a backup person at the bin entrance. • Have rescue equipment ready nearby. But those are only incidents reported by news organizations or to the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), notes Liz Rheingans, a safety director for Safety Resource Alliance, a division of Ag States Group, the CHS agribusiness insurance agency. “There are plenty of incidents that never get reported because the person is rescued by co-workers or family.” Rheingans works as a safety specialist with five cooperatives in west-central Minnesota, helping with regulatory paperwork, employee training, facility and equipment reviews, and emergencies. “With grain bin entry, we conduct required annual training with all grain division employees, going through the 10-point checklist needed to permit bin entry. The main point of the checklist is to make sure all potential hazards in the bin have been identified, including air quality issues and grain bridging, and that anyone entering a bin has the right equipment and additional staff to help.” Rheingans is intimately familiar with dangers on the farm. She and her husband, Roger, raise row crops near Correll, Minn., and saw their own grain-drying costs jump to five times the normal level last fall, due to extremely wet corn at harvest. “I saw lots of corn frozen in bins, clogging grain movement,” she recalls. “In those frustrating times, we need to remind ourselves to slow down. Too many growers have the ‘It’ll never happen to me’ syndrome. But it can happen and it does, far too often.” be impacted. Employee morale and productivity can suffer, and community attitudes toward the business can change. I’ve seen estimates that show the total cost to a business can be four to five times the amount the insurance company pays.” The most frustrating thing about grain entrapments is that they are completely preventable, adds Tatman, “It would be ideal if the industry developed solutions for dealing with grain plugging and crusting from the outside of the bin. That would eliminate the problem altogether. “Until that happens, people need to know how to properly enter a bin, taking all the necessary steps to protect themselves,” he says. “That makes training so important.” John Garbers, producer and township board member, and fire fighter Bob Atzenhoefer discuss use of the rescue tube. REGULATIONS AND RISK State and federal laws require annual safety training at the commercial level, and those regulations are likely to get more strict, notes Mike Tatman, general manager of Safety Resource Alliance. “Recent OSHA interpretation of its bin entry regulation says you can no longer enter a bin while any machinery is running.” Fines for violations are also getting stiffer, he says. “By issuing fines over $1 million in recent cases, OSHA is showing it has no patience for companies that don’t follow safety procedures to the letter. From a financial standpoint, the risk is too great to not be in compliance.” Tatman cites a study by an ag-based risk management firm that shows companies that conduct annual employee safety training have 50 percent fewer accidents than those who don’t. “They also enjoy better relationships with their insurance providers.” Costs from accidents involving serious injury or death aren’t as easy to calculate, he says. “Beyond the loss to the family, the business can TUBES BOOST RESCUE SUCCESS One of the latest tools for aiding grain bin rescues is a simple four-panel, flexible plastic shield. The rescue team slips the square tube around the trapped person to provide a barrier from the rapidly moving grain. This allows space and air to help keep the victim from suffocating. The CHS oilseed processing plant at Fairmont, Minn., recently presented the Fairmont Fire Department with a new rescue tube. “Without the CHS donation of $3,700, we wouldn’t have been able to buy this equipment on our own,” says Bob Atzenhoefer, first lieutenant and training officer for the Fairmont Fire Department. “If we have to use it, it will increase the likelihood of a rescue.” CHSINC.COM •• LEARN MORE •• Find out more at chsinc.com/c. 24 September/October 2010