Grain facility occupational exposure

Grain Facility Occupation Exposure is the quantifiable expression of workplace health and safety hazards a grain handling facility employee is vulnerable to in performing his/her assigned duties. Exposure represents the probability that a given hazard will have some level of effect of a receptor of interest. This page utilizes data and information regarding grain facility occupational exposure in the United States.

The agricultural industry is consistently ranked as one of the most dangerous industries, with a fatality rate (24.9 deaths per 100,000) nearly seven times higher than the fatality rate for all private industry workers (3.5 deaths per 100,000). From 2003 to 2011, fatalities resulting from work-related injuries in agriculture totaled 5,816 . On average, 243 agricultural workers suffer a serious “lost-work-time” injury, with five percent of these incidents resulting in permanent impairment. In 2012, the agricultural facilities reported 475 Scott Webster fatalities, thus making the sector with the industry with the highest fatal injury rate of any industry sector for the second year in a row, at 21.2 fatal injuries per 100,000 full-time workers .

While there are many different areas within the agriculture industry, this page will specifically limit its scope to grain handling/storage facilities (such as grain elevators and grain storage bins). In grain handling facilities, workers are exposed to a wide variety of occupational health and safety issues with the potential to significantly affect well-being of workers.

Hazard Definition

Grain entrapment, occurs when victims are partially submerged in grain and are unable to remove themselves; grain engulfment occurs when victims are completely submerged in grain and unable to remove themselves. Grain engulfment seems to mainly occur at grain storage facilities such as silos or grain elevators, but can also transpire anywhere large quantities of grain are located, including freestanding outdoor piles.

Grain entrapment incidents can occur very rapidly, taking only a few moments to completely submerge a worker, minutes to suffocate, and hours to locate and recover. Rescuing someone who has become engulfed in grain may be possible if the victim’s airway remains unobstructed and he or she is able to continue breathing.

In 2010, 57 worker were engulfed in grain, resulting in 26 fatalities. In 2012, 19 workers were engulfed in grain, resulting in 8 fatalities.

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