![]() KIII TV reports an eyewitness to Tuesdays collapse told investigators one of the three victims was on top of the grain silo, while the other two were on the ground. He said some victims and their employers are reluctant to report accidents because doing so can create work delays or higher insurance costs.įield said getting an accurate accident count is crucial to efforts to improve farm safety. Bee County Sheriff Department Chief Deputy Ronnie Jones told KIII TV the initial investigation is that it is an accident. ![]() Last year’s other fatalities included workers entangled in machinery, falling or struck by heavy objects.īill Field, a Purdue professor of agricultural safety and health, said many nonfatal entrapments go unreported each year because there’s no mandatory national reporting system. That’s down from 31 deaths in 2014.įourteen of last year’s deaths were caused by grain entrapments, which typically occur when a farm worker enters a grain bin or silo to dislodge clumps of grain and becomes engulfed by shifting grain, resulting in suffocation. The study, an annual report prepared by Purdue, found that 25 people died last year in either grain bin entrapments or other confined space accidents. ![]() It certainly took a team effort with Henryville and Lawrence County Fire, Ethridge Fire and Rescue, County EMS, the sheriff's office and 911 responding.Last year’s accidents were reported in 13 states, mostly in the Midwest’s Corn Belt region. "In a business where we have a lot of loses, it's good to have a win. They train for these very rescues - with equipment like this specialized Grain Bin Rescue truck - often paid for by donations from farmers themselves. He then was removed through an emergency side access door on the bin, incredibly unharmedĬonsidering so many of these incidents end badly, first responders were gratified by this result. Then a vacuum was used to remove the corn until the man could finally be freed. He was covered to just right below his mouth," said McDow.įate intervened as another inch or two and the farmer would have suffocated to death.īut he was conscious and breathing as crews here started installing something called a Great Wall device, hammering it down around his body to hold the loose corn back. "The initial call we got was buried to his neck. Once inside, they found the farm nearly buried. "It's a force that pulls you down and collapses down on top of you at the same time and puts an immense amount of pressure on your body," said Tyler McDow with Lawrence County Volunteer Fire Rescue.įirst responders called to the scene used ropes to rappel down into the grain bin from above. Rescuers compare it to being caught in quicksand. Those rescuers inside the grain bin working frantically to save a farmer's life, who found himself suddenly trapped in a huge mound of corn. That was not the case this time thanks to quick response by highly-trained first responders. A death happened with these circumstances last year, and another involving a child in 2018. These grain bin or silo accidents are terrifying and dangerous to work, sometimes ending with deadly outcomes. Video from inside the rescue operation shows first responders working to pull the man to safety. That may not always be an option, of course, so the following safety measures must be practiced to keep accidents. It is possible to do this by simply cutting out the need to enter a silo with overhanging grain altogether. This was after he fell into a grain bin and was buried up to his neck. Risk mitigation is not easy inside a grain silo, so the first rule here is to minimize the number of times people enter it. (WTVF) - It was a race against time to save a farmer's life in Lawrence County.
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