If unloading equipment is running at the time this occurs, the victim can be rapidly pulled down toward the bottom of the bin. Bridged grain can collapse under a person’s weight, resulting in the victim being buried by falling and shifting grain. This crust appears solid, but it is unstable and may hide open voids below that develop as grain is removed. Spoiled or “out-of-condition” grain clumps together and can develop a crust on the top surface. Victims covered in grain are not likely to survive. If grain unloading equipment is not shut off, victims can be pulled down into the unloading conveyor, auger, or sump. Submersion takes only seconds and once it begins, the pressure and friction forces of grain on the body are virtually impossible for victim to overcome. Anyone standing on the surface while grain is being removed from below is at risk of being rapidly pulled down toward the outlet in the column of flowing grain. Engulfments in flowing grain also occur in outdoor grain storage piles, grain wagons, rail cars, and semi-trailers that unload from the bottom.Īs unloading conveyors or augers remove grain through the bottom outlet, a funnel-shaped flow develops on the surface of the grain. But other scenarios present risks even when grain is not being unloaded from the structure.Īround 80% of reported engulfments involve a person inside a bin or storage structure when grain-unloading equipment is running. Most entrapment and engulfment events occur because workers enter a bin or storage structure to check on condition of grain or to address problems with grain flow due to spoiled grain or equipment malfunction. Roughly half of known entrapments occur on farms, and half occur in commercial facilities. Fatalities have occurred in as little as a few feet of grain. Yet both experienced and inexperienced workers continue to underestimate deadly risks associated with the speed and force of flowing or shifting grain.Īnyone who enters a storage structure containing grain, or who climbs onto an outdoor grain storage pile, is at risk of being entrapped or engulfed in grain. Grain engulfment has been a recognized hazard for decades. This page addresses grain engulfment and entrapment hazards. G rain engulfment and entrapment incidents are on the rise in recent years due to record harvests, larger storage facilities, and equipment that moves grain at faster rates than ever.Īctivities associated with grain handling and storage pose a variety of risks to safety and health of workers, including entrapment and suffocation in grain, falls from structures or catwalks, entanglement in grain moving machinery, toxic atmospheres, electrocution, and dust explosions. The force required to remove a person buried under grain can exceed 2000 pounds.A person buried to the waist in grain requires a force equivalent to their own body weight plus 600 pounds to free them.Grain exerts forces of friction and pressure on a person that prevent self-escape. An adult can be completely buried (engulfed) in 20 seconds.At this point, he or she can’t free themself without help. In 4 seconds, an adult can sink knee-deep in the suction of flowing grain.
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