Silos pose safety issues on a regular basis for the farmers who rely on them to store grain for their agricultural operations.
The grain may appear to be deceptively solid when in reality it is extremely hazardous.
“There are several things that can happen,” said Mitch Ricketts, safety coordinator for Kansas State Research and Extension Service in Manhattan. “One, of course, is that if the grain starts to flow, if there’s a crust over it and the crust breaks, the grain can flow. If augers are running, the grain can flow. If this happens, the grain will suck the person down.”
Ricketts said that the force of the grain can be fatal, even if a person’s head is above grain level.
“It can take just a few seconds, a person can go under,” he said. “If the grain gets up around their stomachs and their chests, the grain exerts enough force internally that they can’t inhale.”
Stored grain, particularly silage, can build up poisonous gases; lack of oxygen also can be a problem in silos.
Ricketts recommended several safety precautions when working with silos.
“In order to enter a silo, a person should have some type of a harness and a rope around them, and there should be another person there — at least another person there — to help them outside of the bin, to help pull them out.
“The ideal thing would be to have three people there and also a cell phone so they could call emergency services if something happened.”
Ricketts said that it is difficult for one person to rescue someone who has become trapped in grain.
“That grain pulling a person down exerts a lot of force,” he said. “It would be much better to have two (people) there.
“One thing they don’t want to do, and this is really hard to do when family is involved, but do not go in after them. Sometimes several people die when this kind of thing happens.”
Ricketts said that installing ladders inside a silo can be helpful in preventing accidents.