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2015 Grain Entrapment Incidents and Fatalities Report

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2015 Grain Entrapment Incidents and Fatalities Report Grain Entrapments in 2015 Saved as: Grain Entrapments in 2015 / Word Unconfirmed – TTD numbers - as of September 10, 2015. Number of Reported Entrapments Fatalities Est. for 2015 18 08 2014 38 18 2013 33 13 > Purdue University shares the “Official Numbers” at the 2012 21 08 end of the First Quarter every year. The numbers on this 2011 33 11 report are only rough indicators or a sampling of recent 2010 59 31 incidents . 2009 44 19 2008 35 17 37.6 16.7 > 7 Year Average. (2008 – 2013) The Number of “Reported Entrapments” reflected is low, because a number of these incidents that actually take place are never reported. ON – Farm versus OFF-Farm incidents for 2015: Number of Reported Grain Entrapments Fatalities On-Farm - 15 (83% of total) 6 (75% of total fatalities, involved FARMS) Off- Farm 3 2 Total - 18 8 ( 44.4% of all entrapments ended as a fatality- - to date in 2015..) 08/31/15_- Marvin Manske, 76, went into a wet & moldy corn bin located in Ceresco, near Louisville, NE. to work on an auger and ended up entrapped up to his chest for 3 – 4 hours. Manske was working to unload the corn from the bin with his son and daughter-in-law. After their attempts were unsuccessful – they called the fire department. His son even tried using a chain from the roof to pull him out. _____________________________________________________________________________ 8/31/15 – This incident took place in Canada, so the incident is not included in the numbers above, however, it is worth noting. Two die in grain unloading incident near Burstalll, Saskatoon. This incident involved a 62 year man (grandfather)_ and his 14 year old grand-son. They died in a farm grain engulfment, while unloading grain. _____________________________________________________________________________ 08/27/15 – Brett Steck , an employee engulfed @ Farmer Cooperative in Farnhamville, IA. died in a grain silo. Emergency responders vacuumed grain out of a silo access door during the recovery effort. ______________________________________________________________________________ 08/25/15 – Joel & Jeff DeWitz where trapped in a large grain bag. They farm about 10 miles N.E. of Steele , N.D. They where trapped for 35 – 45 minutes when they were trying to separate good grain from moldy grain with a vacuum. ______________________________________________________________________________ 08/11/15 – This was an entanglement issue , not an entrapment. Emergency crews rescued a man with his leg stuck in an auger in a grain bin in Cecil County, MD. It took responders about 4 hours to extricate the 71 year old man from the auger. 08/06/15 – Emergency Responders rescued a farmer entrapped in a corn bin in Augusta, WI., which is on West central part of state. The farmer was buried up to his chin. 05/25/15 – Man safely rescued from grain bin in Tyrrell County, N.C. A local man was safely extricated from a grain bin by rescuers after being entrapped in corn for more than 4 hours. _____________________________________________________________________________ 05/20/15 – Minnesota man rescued, nearly buried alive up to his neck in a corn bin. Christopher Johnson, 65, was cleaning a crust layer of corn that was plugging the bin discharge when a layer gave way and he sank into the corn at the rural Ellendale Farm located about 60 miles straight South of Minneapolis. Rescuers entered the grain bin from the roof and placed a rescue tube around the victim. They also cut holes in the bin to lower the corn level and make the rescue effort easier. 05/18/15- Iowa man rescued after being trapped for 90 minutes. An eastern Iowa man was trapped up to his chest in corn. The local fire department lifted him out of the bin with an aerial truck. ______________________________________________________________________________ 04/22/15 – A 70 year old farmer died after he was trapped inside a grain bin at a farm S.E. of Humphrey, which is only about 20 miles North of Columbus, NE. _____________________________________________________________________________ 04/16/15 – Audubon, IA. Farmer dies in grain bin accident. Gary Fancher, 62 year old, entered the bin to break corn loose and had become submerged in the grain. Audubon is about 70 miles West of DesMoines, IA. ____________________________________________________________________________ 03/03/15 –Farmer in Paris, TX. Found dead inside grain silo “following suspected fall”. Paul Chelius was found dead inside a grain silo at a ranch in Kanawka, TX. (N.E. of Dallas). ______________________________________________________________________________ Since this incident happened in Nova Scotia, it does not impact U.S. numbers referenced above: 02/23/15 – Firefighters rescued a 20 year old man engulfed in a grain bin in Great Village, Nova Scotia. The man was an employee of Balamore Farms Ltd. He was buried in a corn bin, while trying to unplug an auger. He was able to get his phone out of his pocket before the corn covered his waist & he phoned another employee for help. ______________________________________________________________________________ Since this incident happened in Australia, it will not affect U.S. numbers in this report: 02/10/15 – Man in his 60’s was trapped waist deep in barley inside the bin on his family’s dairy farm at Axe Creek, east of Bendigo in central Victoria, Australia. The man was trapped for two hours, while temperatures approached 55 degrees C. ___________________________________________________________________________ 01/29/15 – Happy to report a successful farm bin rescue by several Trupointe Cooperative employees from nearby South Charleston, including Dan Roncolato. The incident took place in Clark County, OH. on “Gain & Grain Farm, Inc.” operation. Trupointe employees used a shop vac to suck grain away from a farmer who was buried waist-deep in corn. It was estimated that there was around 2,500 bu. of corn in a 10,000 bu. steel bin when the incident happened. The Trupointe group received rescue training at Sidney, OH. by SATRA in the past. ______________________________________________________________________________ 01/24/15_-Rod Sylvester, 33, was rescued after being entrapped in a FARM bin for nearly 20 hours in Littleport, IA. The man got buried up to his neck with only one arm free. ___________________________________________________________________________ 01/23/15 – William “Lee” Vogel, 71, died in a grain bin South of Lacon, IL. The Marshall County man died following a grain bin engulfment, after approximately 45 minutes of rescue efforts, Vogel was pulled from the grain bin after several holes had been cut in the side of the bin to allow the corn to spill out. ______________________________________________________________________________ 01/21/15 – A 50 year old man from Taylor Couny, KY., died while loading grain from a bin into a truck. The man entered the steel grain bin to unclog the blockage, when the grain collapsed , burying him. _____________________________________________________________________________ 01/16/15 – Emergency crews from (4-5) emergency response groups rescued Dave Jones (approx. 40 years of age) from a soybean bin at an elevator in Kensal, N.D. He was waist deep in the soybeans when rescued. _____________________________________________________________________________ 01/10/15 – A farmer, with a truck shop – Baucom Services, died in his grain bin in Union City, S.C. ______________________________________________________________________________ 01/04/15 – Andrew Lopez, 21, died in a large corn bin at J. D. Heiskell near Friona, TX. (Friona is about 65 miles S.W. of Amarillo.) It took several hours for the emergency responders to find his body, while sifting through the corn. States where these incidents happened: 2015 2014 2013 Ohio 1 0 3 Iowa 4 4 3 ILLinois 1 4 5 Indiana ___ 5 1 Minnesota _ 1__ 4 1 Kentucky 1 0 0 North Dakota 2 3 0 Nebraska 2 2 1 South Dakota ___ 1 0 Wisconsin 1 1 1 2015 2014 2013 New York ___ 2 0 North Carolina ___ 2 1 South Carolina 1 1 0 Texas 2 0 1 Michigan ___ 2 2 Kansas _0__ 2 1 2015 2014 2013 Maryland ___ 0 1 Idaho ___ 0 1 Arkansas ___ 1 0 Georgia ___ 0 1 Mississippi ___ 1 0 Washington ___ 0 1 N. C. __1 0 0 (15) states reported grain entrapment incidents in both 2013 & 2014. Leading states with grain entrapments reported in 2014 were: Indiana – 5 / Illinois – 4 / Iowa – 4 / Minn. – 4 _________________________________________________________________ The (5) states of: Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Minn. and Indiana produce approximately 65% of the total corn in the U.S. These same states, also have the highest levels of ON-Farm grain storage capacity. __________________________________________________________l There is very little On-Farm grain storage in states like: Texas, Okla., and KS. These states also do not have to dry corn between Oct. 20 – Nov. 15, by reducing moisture levels by 10 – 15 points of moisture. Note: Consolidated Grain & Barge Co. (CGB) was found guilty on (3) counts of negligence and ordered to pay more than $16 million for the death of two youth who died in a Mount Carroll. IL. grain elevator in 2010. This was the impetus for also starting the – Grain Handling & Safety Coalition (GHSC). __________________________________________________________ It should also be noted that between 1964 – 2008, approximately 73% of all documented grain entrapments resulted in fatalities. This percentage has dropped dramatically between 2009 and 2015. We are saving a much higher percentage of people who get themselves buried in grain. However, the actual number of total entrapments has also jumped dramatically in the past 16 years, as the level of corn production has increased and the size of grain bins and handling capacities have both been increasing. .
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