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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 1997-03-19, Page 46PAGE A-26. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 1997. lil Agriculture *97 [c| Hundreds have perished in grain storage bins escape is impossi ble. Once engulfed in the grain flow, a victim is rapidly drawn down toward the bin floor. The few Il takes only two or three seconds to become trapped in flowing grain. Within another 10 seconds, you can be completely submerged! In an effort to educate farmers of the dangers involved on the farm, the Farm Safety Association has released an information package regarding how to deal with different hazards and how to prevent accidents. The Association warns against grain storage bins. They have provided settings for hundreds of deaths and entrapments across North America. Victims are most commonly engulfed while walking across the grains surface during bin unloading. There is a simple way to avoid this tragedy - never enter a grain bin while the unloading auger or suction tube is running. Grain flows in a funnel-shaped path to the unloading auger. This vortex of grain behaves very much like a water whirlpool. Velocity increases as grain flows from the bin wall at the top of the grain mass into a small, vertical column at the centre of the bin. survivors of this type of entrapment say they deliberately covered their mouths and noses with their hands and did not panic. All expressed amazement at the tremendous speed of their engulfment. Many entrapments and suffoca tion have occurred in high capacity grain transport equipment. Victims are either buried during loading from combine or storage, or drawn into the flow of grain as a vehicle is being unloaded. Most victims of this type of accident are under 16 years of age - don't allow youngsters to enter grain transport equipment! A thin layer of crusted, spoiled grain can conceal voids beneath the surface. A victim who breaks through this crust is quickly covered as an avalanche of grain collapses into the cavity. Spoiled or caked grain can stand almost vertically. As grain is removed from the base of a caked mass, the potential for avalanche and engulfment increases dramatically. Recently, an Ontario transport driver was buried in an avalanche Some of the precautions for rescuers to take arc: always assume that an entrapped victim is alive, under no circumstances should you start an unloading auger or open a gravity flow gate (the victim could be drawn into the auger or become wedged in the opening), if bin entry is required the rescuer who goes into the structure should wear a body harness and be tied with a safety rope to al least two rescuers on the roof of the bin. GRAIN BIN RESCUE PROCE DURES: If the victim is completely submerged, first turn on bin aeration fans to provide as much air as possible to the victim. The extra air has been credited with saving several lives in grain bin rescues. Next, call the local rescue squad to get experienced help to the accident site. Remove grain from the bin in the most rapid and orderly manner possible. Attempts to 'dig' a buried victim free are generally fruitless, because of the massive amount of material involved and the tendency of grain to back flow. Large openings should be cut uniformly around the base of the bin. Cut with an abrasive saw, air chisel, or cutting torch. These will greatly speed up grain removal. (If a torch is used, be alert for fire). If suitable cutting equipment isn't available, use the comer of a tractor loader bucket to ram holes in the bin wall. Cut emergency openings four to six feet above ground to reduce the potential for a grain build-up .around the outside of the bin - this would block the flow. Ideally, you should make semi-circular or v- shaped cuts 30 - 40 inches across Continued on A-27 The vertical column flows down through the grain mass at close to the rate of the unloading auger. Essentially no grain flows in from the surrounding mass. Rate of inflow at the centre top of a grain bin is so great that of grain as he attempted to empty a bin from the inside with conventional suction equipment. All bins should be equipped with properly designed doors to permit suction unloading from the exterior only. "Lease, purchase or lease to own... I can save you Money!" GARRY WOODCOCK RES. 233-3420 RR#5 Clinton j.l. 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