On-farm grain bins can be deadly traps. Farm Safety training is not optional in today's work environments.
By Sarah Noggle, OSU Extension Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Paulding County
How many of you have ever watched the ABC television show, “In an Instant?” The episode aired on Saturday night, April 4, 2015 and is one that hits close to our community. As the Paulding County Extension Educator for Agriculture, Farm Safety is one of the most important topics our community can benefit from being educated about. The “In an Instant” show was a reenactment of Arick Baker’s grain bin entrapment. He is from New Providence, Iowa, and the accident happened in June 2013. He was totally buried under several feet of corn for approximately 3 hours. He was using a PVC pipe to try to break up some crusty corn inside a large bin when he was sucked down completely to the discharge hole of the bin. He, his mom and his father, and rescue workers reenacted the day so accurately that it was almost like the actual day of the accident.
Interspersed with the terror of the reenactment were interludes of a few minutes where the people involved explained exactly how they felt that day. I can’t imagine anyone in agriculture being able to watch the show without becoming emotionally involved. This program was one of the most incredible that I have ever watched. Arick’s mom had no trouble replicating the terror she felt that day while waiting for the rescue workers to find her son. She drove her car to the bin site at 125 mph. When she tried to call her daughter, she couldn’t event complete a sentence.
The show was especially emotional for me because I can remember as a child heading out to the machine shed with my siblings and playing in the back of a hopper wagon full of corn, soybean or wheat, without my parents or grandparents knowing. Back in the 1980’s the grain wagons weren’t the size they are now, and it was fun to pretend were digging for a buried treasure. At that time as young as we were my brother and I had no idea how dangerous this could be – that is — until my father found out. Once dad explained the dangers, we were done playing in the hopper wagons.
As I started at the Extension Office late in 2013, Farm Safety has been one of my highest priorities. Since 1978, Purdue University has been documenting agricultural confined space incidents throughout the United States. Approximately 1500 cases have been documented and entered into Purdue’s Agriculture Confined Spaces Incident Database (PACSID), with the earliest case dating back to 1964. Today, too many times, victims of grain entrapment are working in much fuller bins, and things go south so quickly that they’re pulled beneath the pile and suffocated literally within seconds.
Bin entrapments often end in utter tragedy: death of a father, sibling, other family member, or employee – maybe someone you ate dinner with every day or the last person to tell you “good night” each evening. Now those “good nights” are gone forever. I scheduled The Ohio State University Grain Bin Entrapment simulator that is also part of the Ohio Fire Academy in December 2014 for training in June. This Friday evening, June 26 starting at 6:30 PM will be a live reenactment by the local Fire Departments for farmers, families, community members, grain elevator employees or anyone with interest and the best news is you don’t have to be from Paulding County.
The OSU Extension Office at 503 Fairground Drive, Paulding, OH, 45879 will be the site of the basic reenactment and training. This is our community and area chance to be trained. The cart comes at a cost and we have great support from community entities such as Paulding County Area Foundation and Paulding County Farm Bureau. As I worked with groups, I felt our local fire fighters needed to be trained. After talking with Ed Bohn, our local EMA director, he felt the fire fighter training was a great idea also. So Saturday morning starting at 9:00 AM, we will have fire fighter training that any fire fighter volunteer in Paulding County can receive for free.
These men and women are the ones out to save lives. Many of the local fire departments are working with Lisa McClure of the Paulding County Area Foundation to receive these grain bin rescue units. Now we are providing the training for them. I hope we are never in this situation of a grain bin entrapment in the county, but if we are and ONE life is saved, all the training was worth it!”
For additional questions, you can email questions to noggle.17@osu.edu, walk in the OSU Extension Office at 503 Fairground Drive, Paulding, OH 45879 or call (419)399-8225.
