Prepare your community for the next grain entrapment with essential equipment, training

Grain bins can be some of the most hazardous places to work on a farm. Whether it’s taking a quick shortcut or just a simple lapse of reason, accidents happen. Some have dire or even fatal consequences. It takes just seconds for a worker inside a bin to become completely engulfed and overwhelmed by flowing grain. And saving lives when that scenario unfolds takes specialized rescue techniques and equipment.

Eliminating grain entrapment injuries and deaths is the goal of Grain Bin Safety Week. Initiated by Nationwide® in 2014, the Grain Bin Safety Week program raises awareness to the:

• Dangers of working in and around grain bins
• Importance of implementing and following safe work procedures
• Need for grain rescue equipment and specialized rescue training by first responders

"You've probably seen or heard the stories about a life lost to grain entrapment. It's devastating to know that many of those lives could have been saved," according to Scott Keyes, Director of Member Advocacy & Insurance Partner Relations for New York Farm Bureau." Grain Bin Safety Week has a simple goal: equip and prepare first responders to do just that."

Are your local first responders ready?

Rural firefighters are often the first and only line of defense when someone becomes trapped in stored grain. Most rural firefighters lack the training and equipment needed to perform a successful grain bin rescue. This compounds the problem. And there are often many miles between rescuers and victims. Even a delay of a few minutes when someone is trapped in a grain bin makes the situation a matter of life and death.

In conjunction with Grain Bin Safety Week, Nationwide and National Education Center for Agricultural Safety’s (NECAS) Nominate Your Fire Department Contest awards emergency first responders with grain rescue tubes and hands-on rescue training to help save lives. In New York alone, the contest has awarded grain rescue tubes and training to 14 fire departments.

“Nationwide and NECAS doesn’t do this alone; we rely on our sponsors like New York Farm Bureau to help spread the message about grain bin safety and to help financially support the program,” said Nationwide Agribusiness President Brad Liggett. “New York Farm Bureau has sponsored a rescue tube and training each year since 2020.”

Nominate your fire department

Visit mynsightonline.com/grain-bin-safety/participate-partner/winners to see if a grain rescue tube has been awarded near you. If you don’t see one close by, nominate your fire department today.

"If these resources aren't in your area, you can take the first step by nominating your first responders or contributing money during Grain Bin Safety Week," said Keyes. "Every rural community should have the tools and training to save lives from grain entrapment."

More about Grain Bin Safety Week

Grain Bin Safety Week is held the third full week of February, while the Nominate Your Fire Department Contest runs from January 1 to April 30 annually. Since its start, the contest has attracted more than 11,000 nominations. Nationwide, NECAS and other generous sponsors have provided grain rescue tubes and training to 332 fire departments in 32 states. At least seven fire departments have utilized their rescue tubes and training to successfully rescue entrapped workers. 

NECAS Director Dan Neenan travels with a state-of-the-art mobile grain entrapment simulator to the winning locations to conduct the training session and award the tube. Loaded on a 20-foot trailer and able to hold approximately 100 bushels of grain, the simulator is the perfect training ground.

“One injury or life lost from grain entrapment is too many. We encourage everyone to nominate their local first responders,” said Liggett.

Find out more about Grain Bin Safety Week and how you can get involved at grainbinsafetyweek.com.