AMES, Iowa -- Farmers across Iowa are rushing to harvest their crops this time of year. However, it is important to take the time to perform grain handling and storage work properly and take appropriate safety precautions to prevent job-related injuries or even death.
Grain handling entrapments can happen quickly. Flowing grain can make a person helpless within five seconds. Although a grain surface may look solid, it isn't. A small opening in the unloading gate causes the entire surface to have the quality of quicksand, trapping the victim. “Grain is like quicksand,” Charles Schwab, ISU professor and extension safety specialist explains. “And the more you struggle, the deeper you go, but few people understand how that force is produced.”
Even when the grain has stopped flowing, it is difficult to help a submerged victim escape. Even those with great upper body strength can't pull themselves out if they are buried to the chest. “Grain has a tremendous force that most people don’t understand unless they’ve experienced it,” he says.
Schwab says a common misconception is that people can be rescued once they're caught in grain. However, the strength required to lift even a 175-pound person out of shoulder-deep grain is more than most people can handle--about 625 pounds. As a person sinks deeper, the grain exerts more force, easily up to 2,000 pounds, which would be about the same as lifting a small car.
There are a few different ways suffocation can occur in grain. During submersion, grain will flow into voids and openings, such as the mouth or nostrils. This can block a person's airways and prevent them from breathing.
Suffocation also occurs when the victim is no longer able to inhale air. The pressure exerted by the grain mass restricts a person's ability to breathe. When the chest cavity and diaphragm shrink as a person exhales, the grain flows around the body, filling any voids. This constricts the ability of the victim to catch their breath.
The lack of breathable atmosphere in the grain can be another factor that leads to suffocation. If buried below the grain surface it is possible that a person could use up all the oxygen available in the surrounding air that fills the voids between the kernels.
There are several ways to prevent grain entrapment. Always lock all access doors to grain storage structures. Never allow anyone to play or ride on grain wagons, or be in the grain work area. Lock out power to all types of grain-handling equipment when entering storage bins. Notify a second person of where you are at all times when loading or unloading grain. Never enter a bin when grain is caked or spoiled.
If someone is caught in flowing grain the action that should be taken depends on whether the person is in a wagon, grain bin or other type of storage structure. The key is to avoid being trapped by follow strict rules while handling, transporting, and storing grain.
“Our goal is to help everyone to understand the danger of grain suffocation and entrapment,” he said. “We also want to make farms a safer place to live and work. Now is the time to share the concern about grain entrapment hazards.