A millworker died of suffocation after being engulfed in soybean hulls in a grain mill storage bin. The 56 year old male millworker was employed by a regional farm bureau. The victim was assisting in the loading of trucks with material from the grain bin compartments. At about 11 in the morning they began loading a truck with soybean hulls and had practically filled the truck when the compartment was emptied. They then switched to another compartment which had been filled 3 weeks earlier with 18.6 tons of soybean hulls. They had difficulty starting the flow of hulls into the truck. The victim ascended the stairs to the walkway around the top of the bin, and attempted to dislodge the bridged material by dropping the weighted end of a flexible sewer tape into the soybean hulls. Very soon the hulls began to flow. After the loading had been completed, his coworkers stopped to eat lunch. When the victim failed to join them, they searched for him and found him suffocated in the bin. It was recommended that a written safety program be developed, bin covers and standard railing be installed, workers be required to use safety lines and harnesses when entering storage areas, and safety notices be posted to warn workers of the hazards of working with stored loose materials.


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    Title :

    Fatal Accident Circumstances and Epidemiology (FACE) Report: Millworker Dies in Feed Storage Bin, Virginia, August 31, 1992


    Publication date :

    1993


    Size :

    9 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English