Purdue University has released its latest findings on ag confined space- (read: grain silos/bins, etc.) related injuries and fatalities.
Introduction
Since the 1970s, Purdue University’s Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department has been documenting and investigating incidents involving grain storage and handling facilities at both commercial and on-farm locations.
In 2013, with support from a U.S. Department of Labor Susan Harwood Training Grant, the effort was expanded to document additional types of incidents. The expanded data collection included incidents involving grain transport vehicles (trucks, wagons, railcars); injuries occurring inside of confined spaces due to exposure to powered mechanical components, such as augers; falls from or into confined spaces; and other types of agricultural confined spaces including both tower and horizontal bunk forage storage silos, liquid storage tanks, livestock waste storage facilities and transport vehicles. In addition, explosions caused by grain, other agricultural dusts, or combustible gases are now included in the database.
By definition, an explosion requires containment (involving some type of confined space), along with fuel, heat, and oxygen to occur. Data has been coded using a standardized coding process, and stored in the Purdue Agricultural Confined Space Incident Database (PACSID).
The following are highlight from the 2022 findings:
- No fewer than 83 cases, 24 fatal and 59 non-fatal, (1) involving agricultural confined spaces were documented in 2022, representing a 40.7 percent increase over the 59 cases in 2021
- There were no fewer than 42 grain related entrapments in 2022 representing a 44.8 percent increase over 2021. This was the highest number of grain entrapments in over a decade. The balance of 41 cases involved livestock waste handling facilities, entanglements inside confined spaces, falls from confined space structures, and grain dust explosions or fires
- Eight incidents involved more than one victim
- Eleven cases involved livestock waste storage pits or lagoons, eight of which were fatal
- Three grain dust explosions resulting in 18 non-fatal injuries were documented (2). Fifteen of these injuries were attributed to a single incident in Iowa.
- One female case was documented in 2022, which occurred inside a cotton module builder
- 29 percent (24) of 2022 cases were fatal compared to 59 percent historically
- Iowa reported the most cases, 24, including those relating to fires and explosions (fifteen of these cases resulted from a single explosion incident), followed by Indiana (6), Minnesota (6) and Ohio (6)
- Iowa reported the most grain-entrapment cases in 2022 (9). Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois, in that order, have historically recorded the most grain entrapment cases
- OSHA Regions 5 and 7 have historically accounted for 67.9 percent of all documented agricultural confined space-related incidents
(1) A case refers to one individual victim. Some incidents involve multiple victims or cases.
(2) Grain dust explosion related cases are included in the data being reported in this summary.
To read this complete report see the link below:
2022 Summary of US Ag Confined Space 5-30-232022 Summary of US Ag Confined Space 5-30-23