The COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of our lives, as well as virtually every industry on Earth. For starters, we’ve seen numerous disruptions to the food supply chain, in addition to increased reports of contaminated meat and poor working conditions in factory farms.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Food and Drug Administration developed a checklist for human and animal food manufacturers to consider when continuing, resuming or reevaluating operations due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The growing enthusiasm for the annual National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction has given rise to a new, similar event: the National Safety Stand-Up for Grain Safety Week. It’s happening this week. The event is designed to raise awareness about the hazards in the grain handling industry, which include engulfment/entrapment; slip, trip, and fall prevention; mechanical hazards; machine guarding; and lockout/tagout. Demonstrations of those hazards – along with discussions about how to abate them, were held at the Asmark Institute Agricenter in Bloomington, Illinois yesterday.