NGFA and OSHA Alliance

• NGFA has signed a joint agreement with OSHA focusing on outreach and communication.

• Goal is to enhance communication between NGFA-members, State/Regional affiliates and Regional/Area offices. – Accomplished through speaking engagements,

facility tours, Web pages and newsletters.

• Option to renew Alliance after 5 years and to then focus on substantive issues/projects.

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Alliance Activities

• Gathering and sharing of recommended practices or effective approaches;

• Participating in industry and/or OSHA conferences, meetings and events;

• Host awareness events – Grain Stand Up

• Encouraging future collaborations among NGFA affiliates and OSHA

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How Grain Quality and Safety Intersect

Nick Friant – Greg Rowe

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Grain Entrapment Facts

• Suffocation from entrapment is the leading cause of death in grain bins

• The primary cause leading to entrapment was entering a bin to loosen crusted, spoiled, or frozen grain while unloading equipment was running

• Over half of the engulfment incidents resulted in fatalities

• 69% of entrapments occurred on the farm while 31% occurred at commercial facilities

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Issues Caused by Grain Degradation

• Bridging

• Cliffing

• Rat holing

• Reclaim blockage

• Structure and wall issues

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Bridging Grain

• Issue: a crust is formed across the top of the grain forming a bridge while a void develops underneath

• Causes: poor quality, heat, frozen grain, etc

• Safety: if a worker walks on top of the bridge it can break causing them to fall into the void. There is a slim chance of survival in this situation.

Picture courtesy of Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health

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Bridging Grain

• Best Practice: Bridged grain can be a serious problem to correct dependent on thickness of the crust and the size of the bin. A well developed plan is essential to safely remove the crust. Every attempt should be made to work from outside the structure. Also rescue teams should be trained and in place.

Picture courtesy of University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture

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Cliffing Grain

• Issue: Poor grain quality in just one area of the bin can cause a wall to form while unloading.

• Causes: infestation, hot spots, high FM concentrations, high moistures, etc.

• Safety: Workers can become buried when the wall of grain breaks loose causing an avalanche of grain to fall onto the worker and bury them.

Picture courtesy of OSHA

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Cliffing Grain

• Best practice: since these walls can break loose at any point its best to work from a safe distance or outside the bin structure to knock the wall down.

Picture courtesy of farmprogress.com

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Reclaim Blockage

• Issue: Reclaims can become blocked for many reasons, mostly caused by a large mass of clumped grain that is pulled over the sump hole

• Causes: Roof leaks, open hatches and covers, broken crusts, high moistures can lead to a blocked reclaim

• Safety: workers can be pulled into flowing grain and become buried

• Best Practice: Workers should never try to dislodge a blocked reclaim form inside the bin while equipment is running.

Picture courtesy of Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health

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Rat Holing • Issue: Tunnels formed in the

grain mass while reclaiming the grain.

• Causes: High FM concentrations, high moistures, out of condition grain, etc

• Safety: Rat holes can lead to voids under the surface of the grain. Also similar to cliffing rat holes can lead to avalanches.

• Best Practice: Never enter the bin to remedy rat holes. Bin whips can be effective tools to combat rat holes. Picture courtesy of Carman Industries

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Structure Issues from Poor Quality • Issue: out of condition grain

sticks to the walls of the bin trapping moisture against the steel walls

• Causes: high moistures, out of condition grain, etc

• Safety: Corrosion on bin walls and structures can lead to failure of the structure over time.

• Best Practice: inspect structures often, when corrosion or other issues occurs repair it before filling the bin again.

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Grain Degradation Prevention

• Proper cleaning

• Temperature controls

• CO2 levels

• Visual inspection

• Safety measures

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Proper Bin Prep and Cleaning

• Inspection and repairs of the bin before filling can reduce the chances of grain spoilage

• Leaks in the roof and sides are commonly found on bolted bins

• Inspection of air ducts are vital to proper aeration of the grain to reduce hot spots

Air ducts full of water, causing moisture to enter grain Air holes are fully plugged not allowing air to enter the grain mass 17

Temperature Controls and other sensors

• Temperature systems have been used for decades to monitor grain. Systems can be very basic or complex

• New advances have added moisture and level monitoring to cables.

Hot spot developing to the left center of the bin early indicators are showing in other spots 18

CO2 Levels in grain

• CO2 can be an indicator of the beginning stages of spoilage or infestations. Elevated levels above ambient can indicate a problem

• Samples taken at fan exhaust points or in heads spaces prove to be effective at capturing accurate CO2 levels of the grain mass

Pictures courtesy of GSI Group 19

Visual Inspection of Quality

• Look for color changes on the surface of the grain.

• High condensation in the head space of the bin

• Leakage coming from the seams of the bin (black usually)

• Smells of rotten or sweet grain in or around the bin

• Grain not unloading like normal, plugs often.

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Safety Steps for a Positive Outcome

• Develop a solid plan before any work starts, consult a safety professional if needed.

• Plan for the worst, have a safety/ rescue crew ready.

• Conditions can change fast and with out notice. Ensure all involved are looking at the whole situation.

• Regroup and develop a new plan if necessary.

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“Come to me early with a problem and

you will have a partner in finding a

solution. Come to me late with a disaster

and you will have a judge.”

- James Preston, Avon

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Quality problems have a compounding affect…

Bob Marlow, as published in Grain & Feed Magazine, “Attention to Grain Quality Keeps People Safe”, March 28, 2014 23

© 2014 Cargill, Incorporated. All rights reserved. How to Successfully Carry Crops – Nick Friant 2015 NGFA CEC CONFIDENTIAL. This document contains trade secret information. Disclosure, use or reproduction outside Cargill or inside

Cargill, to or by those employees who do not have a need to know is prohibited except as authorized by Cargill in writing.

© 2013 Cargill, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Grain

Quality

Tenets

www.cargill.com

Adapted from Charles

Hurburgh as published in

Grain Journal

© 2014 Cargill, Incorporated. All rights reserved. How to Successfully Carry Crops – Nick Friant 2015 NGFA CEC

Aeration will

not correct

incomplete

or non-

uniform

drying There is no

“silver bullet”

for monitoring/

managing

grain in

storage

Grain quality never gets better

Moisture is

the most

important

factor you

measure

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© 2014 Cargill, Incorporated. All rights reserved. How to Successfully Carry Crops – Nick Friant 2015 NGFA CEC

If you do not

grade/inspect

all of your

inbound grain,

you cannot

know what

you have in

storage

Grain that

has gone

out of

condition

will always

be a

storage risk

Poor

quality

grain is

more costly

to handle

and store Many

aeration

problems

can be

eliminated

by coring

bins

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Plans

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Storage Monitoring Plans

• Every one is going to be different

• The more detail and precision, the better

• Take into account changes in storage

plans

• Does your plan include communication

• Are security considerations included

• Make it a part of your S/O Program

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Example Monitoring Plan

• Concrete upright space

– Temperature readings will be reviewed on a

weekly basis. Temp system automatically

flags rises in temperature greater than 20

Deg.

– Aeration will be run to cool grain for storage

(when appropriate), or when a hot spot is

discovered.

– Grain will be turned as needed.

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Example Monitoring Plan

• Remote Flat – Flat will be checked for security each week (at a

minimum). All doors, gates, and vents will be secured to prevent uncontrolled access to the flat.

– CO2 readings will be recorded every two weeks.

– When filling the flat, samples will be collected to represent each 250,000 bushels and will be sent in for baseline mold testing and grading.

– Flat will be probed every 30 – 45 days (when safe to do so) with samples being sent for mold tests and grading. If quality concerns arise, samples may be collected more often.

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Internal Example 2014

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APPROXIMATE ADDITIONAL COOLING TIME FOR CORN MIXED WITH FINES % Fines Multiplication Factor for Additional Cooling time 5 1.6 10 2.2 15 2.9 20 3.5 25 4.1 30 4.7 35 5.4 40 6.0 45 6.6 50 7.2

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42

43

44

45

46

47

48

Note: Summer to Winter transition is similar, but the air flows would be reversed.

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50

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At the end of the day, we want to do everything we can to maintain the

quality of the grain as it moves through our grain facility

AND

ensure that everyone who comes to our facility each day goes back home

safely at the end of the day.

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Closing Questions to Ponder…

• Are you training/informing your team on the importance of grain quality?

• Are you doing everything you can to monitor and manage quality?

• Does your team understand why, how quickly, a quality issue can turn into a safety issue?

• Do you have policies/procedures in place when dealing with quality/safety concerns?

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Stark Reality – Tragic Headlines • “Two workers die after grain bin accident”, 01/02/2018

• “Harrison County Supervisor Russ Kurth killed in grain bin accident”, 11/07/2017

• “A Steady March of Grain Bin Deaths”, 02/03/2016

• “Man dies in Iowa grain bin accident”, 08/27/2015

• “Drowning in Corn”, 12/8/2014

• “Sidney man dies in grain bin accident”, 07/13/2013

• “Worker engulfed in 20,000 bushels of soybeans”, 01/19/2012

• “Fargo man dies in Kindred grain bin accident”, 06/10/2011

• “Mount Carroll in shock over grain bin deaths”, 07/28/2010

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16 17 19

31

11 8

20 17

14 11

15 17

22

26

19

11

13 21

10 18

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

An

nu

al In

cid

en

ts

Year

U.S. Grain Entrapments/Engulfments

Non-Fatal

Fatal

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Contributing Factors to Grain-Related Entrapments and Engulfments?

• Increased crop yields. • Larger volumes of grain are being harvested, handled

and stored. • Larger capacity storage facilities. • Larger capacity handling systems. • Climate conditions that have increased the amount of

out-of-condition grain in storage. • Aging storage facilities that fail to adequately protect

the stored grain leading to spoilage and difficulty removing the grain from storage.

• Employees who may not recognize the threats associated with grain storage and handling.

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Public Law 91-596

• The OSH Act was signed on December 29, 1970

–47 years ago!

• Mission: – Assure safe and healthful working conditions for

working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance.

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Grain Stand Up

• Purpose: – Each year employees lose their lives in preventable

grain engulfments and entrapments.

– Everyone has a role in preventing injuries and illness in the industry every day.

– It is through all our combined efforts that we will be successful in reducing fatalities, injuries, and illnesses.

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Grain Stand Up

• Goals

– raise hazard awareness to prevent fatalities and injuries in the grain industry.

– provide an opportunity for employers to openly discuss the hazards, protective methods, and their company's safety policies and goals with their employees.

– create a dialogue about hazard identification, hazard correction, and hazard prevention.

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Grain Stand Up

• When:

– April 9th through April 13th, 2018

• How can you help?

– Schedule an event at your facility or participate in one in your area

– Access the informational materials on the stand up website

– AND, Stand Up for grain safety

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