Grain entrapment
 Grain entrapment simulation with mannequin
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Video from news report on unsuccessful rescue attempt in Indiana
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Grain entrapment, or grain engulfment, occurs when a person becomes submerged in grain and cannot get out without assistance. This more frequently occurs at storage facilities such as silos or grain elevators, but has been known to occur around any large quantity of grain, even freestanding piles outdoors. Usually, unstable grain collapses suddenly, wholly or partially burying workers who may be within it. Entrapment occurs when victims are partially submerged but cannot remove themselves; engulfment occurs when they are completely buried within the grain. Engulfment has a very high fatality rate.
While the death rate from workplace accidents on American farms has declined in the first decade of the 21st century, grain-entrapment deaths have not, reaching an all-time annual high of 26 in 2010. Many of those victims have been minors. Agricultural organizations have worked to protect them and improve rescue techniques, as well as spread awareness among farmers of prevention methods. Primary among these is a federal regulation that forbids opening an auger or other opening at the bottom of a grain storage facility while someone is known to be "walking down the grain" within.
Smaller family farms, however, are exempt from most federal labor regulation specific to agriculture, and no safety regulations govern children working for their parents. In 2011 the US Department of Labor proposed sweeping new regulations that would have changed this, prohibiting underage workers from being allowed to enter silos, among other provisions. They were withdrawn after protests from farmers and politicians of both U.S. parties.
At some grain-handling facilities, employees "walk down the grain" on top of it to expedite the flow of grain from the top when it is being allowed to flow out the bottom. This is the most common cause of grain entrapments. Regulations issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) specifically forbid this at larger commercial facilities subject to them; most smaller farms are not. It may also be necessary to enter a grain storage facility to remove damp, clumped grain (usually from early spoilage) stuck on the walls. Entrapments have also occurred to children in grain transportation vehicles, or to those outside when grain is released from a storage facility or next to large freestanding grain piles.
Workers in the grain can become entrapped in three different ways. An apparently stable surface may in fact be a "grain bridge" over an area beneath which the grain has already settled. A vertical mass of grain settled against a wall may suddenly give way while being cleared. Moving grain will not support the weight of an average person.
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Wikipedia