The Iowa Farm Bureau is hosting a grain bin safety and rescue webinar this afternoon as a sort of refresher course for farmers statewide. Dan Neenan, ag safety director for the National Education Center, is the featured speaker. Neenan says one key for grain bin safety is to make sure to condition the grain before it’s put into storage because that will help prevent many of the accidental engulfments.
“We’re going to be talking about proper conditioning to put the grain away,” Neenan says. “If the farmers put the grain away with that high of a moisture content, it’s going to mold, it’s going to crust over and it’s not going to flow very well in the spring when they go to start emptying, which is going to cause somebody to get into the bin. Of course, anybody getting into the bin is a potential target to get trapped inside.”
Neenan says 2010 was the deadliest year for grain bin fatalities and engulfments nationwide. He says that year was similar to this year in that there was a late harvest and high moisture content. Neenan says he’ll also be talking about the basic rules for proper safety around grain bins. “We had two gentlemen in mid-central Iowa that were killed last year, they had a fire in the bin the day before,” Neenan says. The fire pulled virtually all of the oxygen out of the bin. “Everybody going in needs to be wearing a body harness and be tied off outside the confined space.”
Also, there needs to be a minimum of two people to attempt that chore. The webinar is free and starts at one P-M. No registration is required. Anyone can log on to iowafarmbureau-dot-com, click on the webinar banner and log in as a guest.
(Reporting by Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton)