Reprinted from GRAIN JOURNAL March/April 2020 Issue
This article summarizes a report released in mid-March by Purdue University’s Agricultural Safety and Health Program on reported agricultural confined space-related injury and fatality cases documented during 2019. The program has documented and entered into Purdue’s Agricultural Confined Space Incident Database approximately 2,100 fatal and non-fatal agricultural confined space cases since 1977.
The number of grain entrapments in 2019 increased, with at least 38 grain entrapment cases, compared to 30 in 2018.
The total of 67 confined space cases places the number of this year’s confined space-related cases above the five-year average of 58 cases per year, and below the 10-year average of 67.1 cases per year.
The Purdue report breaks out grain entrapment cases from a larger number of confined-space related cases, which include falls into or from grain storage structures, equipment entanglements (including augers), asphyxiations, drownings, and victims being stuck or pinned by heavy objects.
Number of deaths. The total number of fatal grain entrapment cases in 2019 (23) was higher than the number of non-fatal incidents (15). This resulted in a 61% fatality rate, a rate higher than the five-year average (58.2%). The number of non-fatal grain entrapment cases was the fifth-largest recorded, following 2010 (27), 2011 (21), 2013 (21), and 2014 (20).
State review. In 2019, the state with the most documented grain entrapments, fatal and non-fatal, was Minnesota with seven cases total.This was followed by Iowa, Nebraska, and Ohio (four). Illinois, North Dakota, and Wisconsin had three cases each. Alabama, South Carolina, and Arkansas had two cases each. Indiana, Missouri, Michigan, and North Carolina each reported one case.
Farms vs. elevators. Among total confined space incidents, there were 64 cases where the exemption status of the facility with respect to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations could be determined. Of those, 49 (77%) occurred on farms or other locations currently exempt from enforcement under the OSHA Grain Handling Facilities Standards (29 CFR 1910.272) or Confined Space Standards (29 CFR 1910.146), with the balance of known cases (23.3%) taking place at non-exempt commercial grain facilities, which is consistent with past trends. It is believed that the majority of unknown cases, based on historical data, occurred at worksites that have OSHA exemption status.
Geographic Distribution of Grain Entrapment
Cases for 2019 and Previous Years (1962-2019)
Distribution of 2019 Agricultural Confined
Space-Related Cases by Type of Incident
Number of Annual Grain Entrapment Cases
Recorded Between 2010 and 2019
Number of All Annual Confined Space Cases
Recorded Between 2010 and 2019
