Safety Success Stories: Professionals Report Steps That Have Made Their Grain Operations Safer

Making grain handling operations safer is a never-ending quest. We asked five grain industry safety professionals for examples of how they successfully have made their operations safer.

Reprinted from Grain Journal March/April 2016 Issue

Bill Spreeman | Vice President, Safety and Environmental Affairs | Wheat Growers | Aberdeen, SD

“Over the past 18 plus months, the Behavioral Safety Metrics program is having a significant impact on our lagging safety metrics used for benchmarking, and we’ve seen a substantial positive financial impact in avoided and real costs (more than $2.2 million). Our employees have developed and implemented a customized behavioral safety system that continues to improve the coop’s safety culture, with the ultimate goal of having zero people hurt while working for Wheat Growers (WG).

“Our employees, with the assistance and guidance of RCI, developed the BASE (Behaviors Achieving Safety Excellence) Process that targets the highest risk activities undertaken by WG employees. The ‘risk ranking’ was an exercise facilitated by RCI, where the risks were ranked based on severity, frequency, and history.

“The highest ranked risks were identified and safe behaviors or standard procedures to reduce or control risk were established for volunteer observers to reinforce positively through observations and feedback with all employees at all locations. For the past five years WG has averaged more than 4,000 observations per year.

“WG has three behavioral safety metrics that have been in place since we began our BASE process:

• Continuous improvement in scoring of a survey that measures employee perception of the safety culture at WG. (>4.5 on a 1-5 scale).

• 100% of targeted observations by each location and its observers (> 3,750 per year – eight per observer).

• 100% of required safety training (including BASE) throughout the year (>15,000 training events per year).”

Tom Winkel | Safety Director | MaxYield Cooperative | West Bend, IA

“Two years ago we developed a Safe Workplace Apprentice Team (SWAT Team). This specialized team has learned how to recognize hazards and communicate that risk to their peers. This communication link helps all of us improve our ability to recognize and act on anything that appears to be a hazard and has reduced our incidents to a trickle of what they had been by better understanding the ‘why’ of what we do, rather than a directive.

“Breaking through the barrier of employees thinking of safety as someone else’s job takes time and a lot of creative convincing. I know my team is starting to understand the importance of safety, when they recognize hazards outside the workplace. Now employees show me pictures of safety hazards in their everyday lives outside of work, including blocked exits and improperly used ladders. Being able to identify these hazards on a daily basis is a very important link to removing the hazard.”

Dean Danielson | Safety and Compliance Supervisor | Countryside Cooperative | Durand, WI

“Last spring, Countryside Cooperative contracted with the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety to provide a grain bin simulator and teach our coop employees during a day session on process involved in rescuing someone who is entrapped in grain. The training covered how to safely enter a silo where someone is entrapped, walk on grain, evacuate grain from a rescue tube, and move the rescue tube down to extract the victim. Employees get to experience engulfment up their waists, so they are familiar with what happens and how it feels.

“Then in the evening, volunteer firefighters from rural fire departments located within 40 miles of Countryside’s operations received this training from coop employees. They also learned how to make appropriate bin cuts, where to place cuts on multiple sides of the bin, and how to drain grain from the bin.

“Late last summer, the Osseo, WI Fire Department responded to an entrapment call, and thanks to the training they had received, safely rescued the victim from the engulfment likely saving his life.

“Countryside Coop also has applied for a $10,000 CHS Foundation grant to purchase three coffer dams and rope rescue kits so local rural fire departments have the right equipment available, in case of an engulfment emergency.”

Ben Snyder | Safety Director | Mercer Landmark Co. | Celina, OH

“In 2015, we cut reportable injuries in half. We had seen a spike in back injuries and lacerations, so we provided information on proper lifting techniques and back safety and encouraged more care when using sharp items. We heightened awareness through extra memos to managers that showed the injuries we had experienced the previous year, and these were brought to employees’ attention.

“Before starting a task, we reminded employees to think about how to handle it safely by asking themselves, ‘Do I need a forklift? How can I lift and move something safely?’ We also encouraged reporting near-miss incidents. It’s very rewarding to see these injuries decrease dramatically by having employees pay attention to what they’re doing and focus on safety. Now we want to keep the momentum going.”

Phil Pelc | Senior Safety Director | Central Valley Ag Cooperative | York, NE

“Several years ago, we started a process called the All-In Safety Audit at each of our 80 locations in Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa. Three times a year, five safety team members conduct a physical inspection and interview one to four employees on up to 220 items to determine how well they understand all of our safety procedures. Their answers are scored, and those locations that score 95% or higher reach All-In Safety status.

“We want employees to understand that everyone’s responsible for safety. We make it a big deal celebrating the good scores and coaching those below 95% to get better. We want to make sure everyone goes home to his or her family at the end of the day. We’ve gotten everyone involved now – not just the Safety Team – and our employees look out for each other, and say something, if they see an unsafe behavior.

“Vice President of Safety Brad Bousquet started this program using the free iAuditor app on an iPad. Each location and our senior vice presidents instantly get a report on the audit results, so they know what to work on. Those who reach All-In Safety status are recognized with a plaque at the annual employee retreat. Thanks to this program, we’ve seen a big decrease in the number of reportable incidents.”