Farmers can be injured or killed attempting to break up clumps of moldy grain blocking unloading equipment in grain bins, says Doug Kingman, Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service farm safety specialist. Three-quarters of those deaths occurred during the unloading of a grain bin. Most grain-related accidents occur in the winter months, as grain is unloaded to sell or feed livestock. In a typical scenario, a farmer enters a storage facility with the unloading equipment running and is pulled into the grain flow. Unable to escape, the farmer is buried alive.
Death often comes from suffocation.
Because Diplodia infection is more widespread this year, the risk of grain bin mishaps is greater. Caked corn must be dislodged manually. That's where farmers can run into trouble, Kingman says. Sometimes they'll stand in the middle of the bin trying to dislodge the clump. Once grain flow is re-established, it takes only four or five seconds for a person to submerge to the point where he or she is helpless.