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Dangers of grain handling equipment

A farm safety specialist is bringing attention to the dangers of grain handling equipment.

Megan Schossow with the Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center says there’s an alarming trend of incidents involving augers.

“Especially as we head into harvest season and folks that are still moving grain, clearing out bins, things of that nature. Having things like lock out, tag out kits so that things aren’t getting powered on if there are multiple people working at a single task. Which very well can happen during seasons like harvest.”

She tells Brownfield farmers need to be mindful of power lines when maneuvering augers.

“We still see some tragic incidents, so keeping that in mind when folks are doing this kind of work. Especially we know a lot of it will happen at night and during these dusk hours or after long days, so those grain bin spaces are another one that I think are really important this time of year.”

Schossow says farming is one of the most hazardous professions in the U.S. with high rates of stress, injury, disease, depression, and death.