GRAIN SILO FULL
Experts on farm safety say that most farmers are aware of the hazards of sending someone into a bin full of unstable grain, but often lack the equipment or training to protect their workers against an avalanche. But the Obama administration, sensitive to Republican charges that it was choking the economy with expensive regulations, pulled back the proposed rules this year in the face of furious farm-state objections.Įven those rules would not have covered working conditions on family farms and small operations like the one where Tommy Osier died and which account for 70 percent of grain entrapment accidents. The proposed federal regulations would have prohibited children under 18 from working in large commercial grain bins, silos or other enclosed spaces. Nearly 20 percent of all serious grain bin accidents involve workers under the age of 20. That the deaths persist reveals continuing flaws in the enforcement of worker safety laws and weaknesses in rules meant to protect the youngest farmworkers. The deaths are horrific and virtually all preventable.Įxperts say the continuing rate of silo deaths is due in part to the huge amount of corn being produced and stored in the United States to meet the global demand for food, feed and, increasingly, ethanol-based fuel. Since 2007, 80 farmworkers have died in silo accidents 14 of them were teenage boys. Silos teeming with corn, wheat or soybeans become death traps when grain cascades out of control, asphyxiating or crushing their victims.
The annual number of such accidents rose throughout the past decade, reaching a peak of at least 26 deaths in 2010, before dropping somewhat since. The plant has a capacity to produce around 135 million gallons of ethanol a year.Even as the rate of serious injury and fatalities on American farms has fallen, the number of workers dying by entrapment in grain bins and silos has remained stubbornly steady. The Peoria fire department said that an early estimation of the damage caused by the explosion is around $2 million.īioUrja, an energy and agricultural commodity trading and supply company, purchased the Peoria facility from grain merchant Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) in 2021. Three more silos suffered partial collapse and are leaning over.Īs of May 17, firefighters continued to monitor a smouldering fire at the scene and said that the continued heat had weakened the remaining structures and could cause further explosions. The fire department said that while it was able to extinguish an initial fire, it was unable to prevent one of the grain silos from collapsing. The facility was shut down following the incident and will remain closed until OSHA and other local officials have finished their investigation.
GRAIN SILO SERIES
The spokesman said that while the cause of the blast is unknown, the incident happened after one of the grain silos imploded and caused a fire which then resulted in a series of further explosions. The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) attended the scene and would conduct an investigation, a spokesman for BioUrja told journalists.
Two employees at the BioUrja plant were treated by paramedics for smoke inhalation and were taken to hospital before being discharged later.
The local fire department was called to the scene where they found several heavily damaged, large grain bins on fire. The incident occurred at around 21:00 local time in the city of Peoria, central Illinois.
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