Farm Youth Suffocated in Corn Bin

Details

• Personal Author:
  Hetzler, William E. ; Hirsh, Gary L.
• Corporate Authors:
  Nebraska Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (Nebraska FACE) ; Nebraska. Department of Labor
• Description:
  A 15-year-old male was killed while working on the family farm. He had crawled into a 20,000 bushel corn bin, through a door on the top. He had gone in to scoop corn away from the front lower door of the grain bin so a sweep auger could be installed. The bin had corn in it which sloped from the sides to the center take-out. The center take-out area was empty while the corn on the sides of the bin was approximately seven feet high. Coworkers thought the victim had exited the corn bin but hadn't seen or heard from him in about 30 minutes. He was found in the bin, in a sitting position, under approximately four feet of corn. Emergency personnel were called and coworkers performed CPR while waiting for them to arrive. Emergency personnel continued resuscitation efforts upon their arrival, but they were unsuccessful. The Nebraska Department of Labor Investigator concluded that to prevent future similar occurrences employers should: 1. identify grain storage bins as confined spaces and workers should follow confined space entry procedures when entering bins. 2. ensure personnel are wearing a safety harness and a lifeline attached to a fixed external anchor to keep them at a level at or above the level of stored grain products and that a coworker is stationed outside a bin whenever a worker enters a bin. 3. ensure all equipment which presents a danger to employees is locked-out, blocked-off, or otherwise prevented from operating. 4. ensure that visual and/or audible communications be maintained between a worker entering a bin and the observer stationed outside the bin. 5. provide and have in place equipment for rescue operations which is specifically suited for the task being conducted. 6. develop, implement and enforce a comprehensive safety program that includes, but is not limited to, training in all hazard identification, avoidance, and abatement.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Agriculture Confined Spaces Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Safety Management Staff Development Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Agricultural-industry Agricultural-machinery Agricultural-workers Confined-spaces Equipment-operators Equipment-reliability Injuries Injury-prevention OSHA Region 7 Personal-protective-equipment Protective-equipment Protective-measures Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Safety-programs Training Traumatic-injuries Work-analysis Work-areas Work-operations Work-performance Work-practices

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• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Agriculture ; Confined Space ; Youth ; Youth Agriculture
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE99NE028
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Nebraska ; OSHA Region 7
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20027907
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2010-115331
• Citation:
  Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE 99NE028, 2000 Mar ; :1-4
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2000
• Performing Organization:
  Nebraska Department of Labor
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  11 - Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1993/09/30
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c89888454be049e8d467aaee8abd4450e54697387d9d7b7c8fe5eacea1a723c256a35fd021b0f1cefd450bf19af3fba0a312b7c296a4a500508b713d867b14ed
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/166985/cdc_166985_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 41.37 KB ]