Scott Webb (Host): There are many safety concerns for anybody who works in and around grain, especially youth workers, but most injuries and deaths related to grain can be avoided. I'm joined today by Dr. Salah Isah. He's an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Industrial Safety and Health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. And he's here today to explain the risks associated with grain and the best practices and guidelines for avoiding grain injuries and tragedies.

Welcome to Let's Talk with Carle Health, a podcast featuring Carle doctors, partners, and other experts bringing you topics important to your health and wellness. Today's podcast is made possible through funding from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health via the National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety Emerging Issues Program. Learn more about the Carle Center for Rural Health and Farm Safety by visiting carle.org/farmsafety. That's C-A-R-L-E.org/farmsafety for resources, information, tips, and more. Let us help keep you and your family healthy and safe. I'm Scott Webb. So, doctor, it's so great to have you. We're going to talk about grain handling today and some of the safety issues, especially with youth working around grain, proper PPE, all that good stuff. So, just as we get rolling here, what types of safety issues do we have with grain?

Dr. Salah Isah: One of the most common scenarios that we hear from news clippings and so on is grain entrapments. From a grain storage and handling facility, we see electrocutions, we see entanglement into the equipment. And lastly but not leastly, we also have this big health issue, that all that dust, if you're working there without wearing a mask, that can lead to lifetime health issues.

Host: Yeah. And just wondering, some of these things we're identifying here, slips, trips, falls, entanglement, engulfment, all this stuff, is this unique to youth working in grain, or is it pretty much across the board?

Dr. Salah Isah: It's across the board. But historically, we've had a large number of youth impacted by these incidents. So, Purdue University has been tracking these incidents since the 1960s. And looking through their whole 60-year database, they have documented that youth represent around one-quarter of all cases.

Host: So as you say, it's not unique to youth working in grain, but it seems to happen a lot to them, perhaps because they're younger, less experienced, whatever the reasons might be. So then, what are some of the standard precautions and guidelines for youth working around grain?

Dr. Salah Isah: So, the recommendation from the Grain Handling Safety Council is the youth under the age of 16 not to enter any grain bins or silos or flat store structures, unless they're empty, there's a proper lockout-tagout, and other safety procedures are followed. Also, there's recommendations that they must be trained by knowledgeable adults, if they're above the age of 16, on how to handle grain and the dangers associated with grain.

I also recommend that parents who are wondering what kind of tasks their youth can do, there is a Hired Agriculture Youth Work Guidelines. That is developed and published by the National Children's Center at Marshfield Clinic. It's a great resource for parents to use to, in a sense, determine whether a job that they're planning to assign their children is suitable for them.

Host: Good to know, doctor, that there are some guidelines for youth working in grain. We hope that folks are adhering to them, of course. So, what is LOTO, and how do you do it?

Dr. Salah Isah: So, LOTO that's called lockout-tagout, and it's a principle where any equipment is energized, or has energy that you're dealing with, that you lock it out and you tag it out before you enter that space or enter into an area that there's a hazard. So, an example of this is that when you're talking about a grain bin, you have that auger that's running below. So, you lock out that switch on the auger so nobody else could turn this on. And then, you include a tag saying that, "Hey, my name is so and so. I locked it out because of so and so." And then, you can basically go into that equipment and do what you need to do, maintenance or repairs or stuff like that, feeling safe. That's a really important principle.

We've had a case where three men were sent to actually just maintain and repair the roof of a grain facility And so, they all went there and they had harnesses, everything was set up correctly, the grain was flat, there was no grain movement. So, they're like, "Okay, we're safe." And they took off the harnesses and at that very moment in time, a trucker comes, wants his grain, he doesn't see anybody around. He opens a switch and pulls his grain and ended up drowning these three men. So if they had used lockout-tagout, or LOTO for short, they would have been safe.

Host: Well, that's a tragic story, and it certainly emphasizes and underscores the importance of lockout-tagout, or LOTO, as we're talking about here. Let's go through proper PPE. What is the proper PPE for grain handling or just, you know, working with grain?

Dr. Salah Isah: If you're working with grain, we strongly recommend wearing face masks, preferably the ones with cartilage, as those tend to be more robust and provide higher protection. But at the very least, an N95 mask, anytime you're dealing with grain, that's crucial. It's hard to do, because sometimes when you're in a grain mass, dealing with a grain mass, it's hot, it's humid, you don't want to wear anything. But given the danger, you know, of what could be growing there, whether it's spores or bacteria or so on, that is something highly recommended for a grain bin.

Other PPE include wearing harnesses, depending on the circumstances, how much grain there is and so on. And make sure that your clothes, there's no loose strings or anything like that. You never know when a string or something like that gets entangled into equipment while you're not paying attention. I would say those are the most common PPE used inside a grain storage facility. Also, not necessarily PPE, but if you're going inside a grain bin, make sure that you have communication somehow with the outside, whether it's by the phone or walkie talkie or something like that. Also, make sure that there's an observer watching you if you have to go inside a grain storage facility with grain inside it. And if you're wearing a harness, that observer needs to keep your lanyard tight so that you're never at the risk of getting engulfed in grain. Because if your harness is loose and the grain starts flowing, it will drag you through. And, you know, it wouldn't do you much help other than, "Hey, they'll know where the body is." So, that's why it's really important to keep that lanyard tight and basically keep that rope tight to protect you.

Host: Yeah. I was going to ask you about that, an observer, spotter. So, I'm glad you covered that as well. It's been really educational today. You know, as I told you before we got rolling, I don't know a lot about grain and working with grain, but you do, you're an expert. So, great to have you here. Just give me an opportunity here at the end. Final thoughts, takeaways. When we think about folks working with grain, youth working with grain, what do you most want them to know?

Dr. Salah Isah: So, I've mentioned the statistics of how frequently youth are getting trapped. Another 25% of the cases we see actually occur to adults over the age of 60. And they have the experience with grain, they know the dangers with grain, they grow over time comfortable with grain. And so, we see that number of incidents that tend to spike. And every year, we hear about 20 to 40 grain entrapment incidents. And usually, around half of them are fatal and the other half end up surviving.

Host: Yeah. And I think the key message here, the takeaway for me anyway, is that these things are avoidable, right? Certainly, despite, you know, best practices and trying to adhere to all the safety guidelines and regulations, things will happen, accidents will happen. But many of these things can be avoided, right?

Dr. Salah Isah: Yes. I would argue the vast majority, 96-98% are completely avoidable just by taking the right precautions beforehand.

Host: Yeah. And we certainly hope this podcast helps folks to do that, whether it's youth or folks over 60 or everybody else. I appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

Dr. Salah Isah: Thank you.

Host: That's Dr. Salah Isah, Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Industrial Safety and Health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

And remember, you can count on Carle. Learn more about the Carle Center for Rural Health and Farm Safety by visiting carle.org/farmsafety, that's C-A-R-L-E.org/farmsafety for resources, information, tips, and much more. If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the entire podcast library for additional topics of interest. I'm Scott Webb. Thanks for listening and join us next time on Let's Talk with Carle Health.