Hands-on grain bin safety and rescue held at grain facility
The professionals at Landmark Services Cooperative are familiar with the dangers of working in and around grain storage facilities. The knowledge Landmark brings to first responders working in rural communities gives them hands-on training and experience with agricultural emergencies. To help first responders save lives, Landmark Services Cooperative hosted a grain engulfment rescuer training. The event was designed to give emergency responders the chance to experience grain facility emergencies in a safe, controlled environment.
Participants were from a number of fire departments including Rio, Columbus, Markesan, Fall River, Cambria, Doylestown and Randolph, as well as a local construction company. They learned techniques for rescuing engulfed victims based on the potential victim's location within the bin and state of consciousness.
Such training is necessary to be sure emergency responders are familiar with the hazards of entering grain bins as well as methods to safely remove victims entrapped in grain, says Matt Solymossy, safety manager for Landmark Services Cooperative.
"Training like this is important because we're seeing larger and larger grain storage every year, and it seems that not only is there an increase in the number of incidences, but also the severity of incidences with grain bin entrapment," Solymossy says.
Becoming trapped in grain is similar to becoming trapped in quicksand, explains Solymossy. The dangers include suffocation or injury from as much as 2,000 pounds of pressure on the victim from the grain.
An important tool in grain engulfment rescues is the cofferdam. The cofferdam consists of multiple metal pieces that slide and lock in place, allowing emergency personnel to safely rescue a potential victim. The cofferdam is a critical element in the rescue as it can prevent additional grain from flowing around the victim while a rescue is underway. Once the cofferdam is assembled around the victim, emergency responders can remove the grain, therefore reducing the pressure on the victim and allowing for safe rescue. Rescues should be performed by trained emergency responders.
Landmark Services Cooperative has cofferdams at each of its grain facility locations for use by emergency responders. Many emergency response departments have cofferdams among their rescue equipment or know the locations of nearby available cofferdams.
In addition to learning how to use the equipment, training provides a helpful opportunity to work with colleagues from other emergency departments in a practice environment, says participant Mark Kenevan, assistant fire chief with the Columbus Fire Department.
"Practice is important because it makes you better in the field if you do face this type of situation down the road, which we hope we never do," Kenevan says. "If we have a rescue situation like this, we'll probably have a couple fire departments work together. So it's great to have the people working together under practice conditions."
Farmers can take steps to prevent grain bin engulfment emergencies, Solymossy says. He suggests the following on-farm safety tips for producers:
- Never go into the grain bin alone. Always have another person stationed outside the bin to provide assistance and call for help if needed.
- Never walk on stored grain. "Any time you have stored grain more than waist deep and you're walking on top of it, there's a chance it could collapse and you could become engulfed," Solymossy says.
- Lock out, tag out. "Make sure that augers and other equipment that move grain inside the bins are de-energized before you enter a grain bin," advises Solymossy.
For more information about the grain bin safety training for emergency responders or other Landmark Services Cooperative programs, contact Cassandra Strommen at 1-800-236-3276 or email: Cassandra.Strommen@landmark.coop or visit www.landmark.coop .
Landmark Services Cooperative is a member-owned cooperative business dedicated to providing both rural and urban customers the highest quality products and services. For more than 80 years, Landmark has been providing agronomy, energy and retail services, animal nutrition, grain, retail and transportation products and services to its more than 15,000 members in Southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. Employing more than 500 people in rural areas and reaching sales in excess of $450 million, Landmark provides the benefits of volume buying and access to state-of-the-art technology to its members while maintaining a hands-on, customer service-oriented approach in each of the communities we serve. For more information, visit www.landmark.coop or call 1-800-236-3276.
6.17.2015