Grain bin operators not taking safety seriously, says OSH group
The increase in grain bin deaths – despite a corresponding increase in official efforts to stop them – shows an “unconscionable” failure on the part of employers, according to the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH), a coalition dedicated to safe work conditions.
A report this month from Purdue University found that a record number of workers were killed in grain bins in 2010; that year, 26 workers were killed and 57 were trapped in grain bins. Since 1964, more than 660 farmers and workers have died in more than 1,000 grain entrapments, a recent investigation by NPR and the Center for Public Integrity revealed.