To the Rescue: First Responders With the Right Tools Can Make the Difference in Grain Bin Accidents

Tragic stories of grain bin accidents are all too common. While they can be prevented, trained emergency responders in many rural communities are a call away to help rescue those entrapped or engulfed in a grain bin.

First responders, such as EMTs and firefighters, in many rural communities participate in training courses to learn how to perform a rescue. Megan Schossow, with the Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center (UMASH), says many first responders receive training on how to use grain tubes.

“The rescue equipment that we typically see are really big plastic tubes,” she says. “Some of the newer more updated ones have rigid bottoms so folks can actually push that around the person who needs to be rescued and what that does is really help take that pressure off."

The pressure around a victim, even just knee deep, is equivalent to 1,500 pounds of down pull. These grain rescue tubes are critical to save lives and decrease injuries from grain engulfment.

“Having that tube put around someone helps get them out with as few injuries, pain or poor outcomes as possible,” Schossow says.

There are various companies and organizations associated with agriculture helping to provide those life-saving devices. Schossow encourages communities to contact these groups to get a unit for their first responders.