2018 Entrapment Report
Purdue University Reports 30 Grain Entrapments in 2018, Up 30% from 2017
Reprinted from GRAIN JOURNAL July/August 2019 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 2018. The program has documented and entered into Purdue's Agricultural Confined Space Incident Database approximately 2,000 fatal and non-fatal agricultural confined space cases since 1977.
The number of grain entrapments in 2018 increased, with at least 30 grain entrapment cases compared to 23 in 2017.
The total of 61 confined space cases places the number of this year’s confined space-related cases slightly above the five-year average (58.8 cases per year) and substantially below the 10-year average (67.10 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 struck or pinned by heavy objects.
Number of deaths. The total number of fatal grain entrapment cases in 2018 (15) was the same as non-fatal (15). The 15 fatal incidents is the third lowest recorded since 1985; only 2012 (eight) and 2017 (11) reported a lower number of fatal grain entrapments. The 15 non-fatal cases was the fifth largest number ever recorded after 2010 (27), 2011 (21), 2013 (21), and 2014 (20).
State review. In 2018, the state with the most documented grain entrapments, fatal and non-fatal, was Iowa with five cases total. This was followed by Kansas (three), Wisconsin (three), and Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, and Nebraska with two cases each. Seven more states – Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, and Virginia – had one each.
Farms vs. elevators. Among total confined space incidents, there were 37 cases where the exemption status of the facility with respect to OSHA regulations could be determined. Of those, 29 (78%) occurred on farms or other locations currently exempt from compliance with the OSHA Grain Handling Facilities Standards (29 CFR 1910.272) or Confined Space Standards (29 CFR1910.146), with the balance of known cases (22%) taking place at non-exempt commercial grain facilities, which is consistent with past trends. It is believed that the majority of the unknown cases, based on historical data, occurred at worksites that have OSHA exempt status.