The impact that technology has had
on agriculture is no secret. Nebraska
farmers are now producing more food on fewer acres with fewer inputs than ever
before! But what impact has
technology made on farm safety? As
one of the most dangerous occupations in America, there are many new and
not-so-new technologies out there that help keep our farmers and grain handlers
safe when working in and around grain bins. Nationwide recently had a great blog post
discussing some of these technologies! Below
are a few that we wanted to highlight…
Remote Grain Augers
A sweep auger is just one of many different grain bin
hazards. A person coming into contact with an energized or running sweep auger
faces a serious and often times fatal accident. During an accident, the time it
takes to shut down a conventional sweep auger can feel like an eternity.
Improved technology now allows for a sweep auger’s power
source to be attached to a remote system that is synced to a transmitter
attached to a belt and a receiver box located on the auger. If communication
between the receiver and transmitter is broken for any reason, the system shuts
down the auger immediately.
Communication can be interrupted in several ways — depending
on the emergency. For example, a button on the transmitter can be manually
pushed if the operator senses danger. The auger will also stop if the
transmitter falls off the operator or if the transmitter’s battery fails.
Breaking up Grain Clusters
Even with proper grain management,
pockets of out-of-condition or frozen grain can still develop and plug outlets
during unloading. When a grain bin is not properly equipped, workers may be
forced to enter the bin to break up the crusted material using long pipes or
other means. This exposes workers to the risk of grain entrapment or engulfment
and other grain
bin hazards.
Numerous products are currently on
the market that utilize innovative technologies to break up blockages quickly
and efficiently, while keeping workers safe.
Some of these products fit over the
grate at the bottom of a grain bin and have propeller-like blades that break up
clumps of grain, preventing the auger from jamming and keeping the grain
flowing. These products can be operated safely from outside the grain bin
Grain Rescue Tubes
If the circumstance does arise
that a person gets engulfed in grain, a grain rescue tube is a proven, popular
rescue tool with emergency personnel to help extract victims. Trying to simply
pull someone out of waist-deep grain is almost impossible and could cause
serious bodily injury or death to the victim.
There are numerous grain rescue
tubes on the market—most of which come in lightweight, interlocking sections or
panels that can be easily carried into a bin and assembled around a victim.
Once in place, the tube serves as a barrier by reducing the crushing pressure
on the victim and preventing more grain from pushing up against the victim.
Emergency personnel then use a portable grain rescue auger, buckets, scoops or
other means to remove the grain from inside the tube until the victim can be
safely freed.
Spreading the awareness about grain bin safety and organizing
grain rescue tube trainings for emergency personnel—helping them understand how
to properly use a grain rescue tube—has been a big initiative of Nebraska Corn’s
over the last few years. Click here
& here
to see photo from various trainings the Nebraska
Corn Growers have hosted last year.
Read
more about these innovative technologies from Nationwide's blog here.
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