Posted on 10/30/2012 3:26:59 AM PDT by DemforBush
STERLING, Mich. — Tommy Osier, 18, a popular but indifferent student, was still a year from graduating from high school, and that was no sure thing. Farm work paid him $7.40 an hour, taught him discipline and gave him new skills. He had begun talking about making a life in farming...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The obvious answer is for the United States to immediately suspend all agricultural activity.
I'm no farmer but it looks to me as if "wetting it down", in addition to the spontaneous combustion possibility you mentioned, it might make conditions right for mold to thrive.
This requires a simple engineering solution, NOT a bunch ignorant regulations.
I lost a friend a couple of years ago to a silo.
Drowned in corn doesn’t sound like a good way to go. He was older, 70 years old, and should have known better.
When your number comes up you answer God’s call.
Love that movie. I think I’ll look on Netflix instant view.
“We are trying to live in a world where no one gets sick, no one dies, and no sad events ever occur.”
Somehow, the US population grew to be more immature over the years. Maybe that’s what happens when society becomes chronically bent towards political correctness.
Farther down it’s just a push for more federal government. People at the NYT, who’ve probably never set foot on a farm much less try to make a living that way, want to dictate to farmers how to farm. Psssssst.
Silos and grain bins and hog pens were off limits on my grandfather’s farm to all of us grand-kids. Those were the rules that were iron-clad.
At what point does the professionl facility decide to implement that simple solution since they probably haven't already?
Merely saying "be careful up there" I spent almost 35 years in a Detroit stamping plant and have seen the results of awful industrial accidents in the press shop. Before OSHA came along, there was nothing to force companies to examine their processes and devise ways to make the work environment safer.
In the end, we had a trained HAZMAT team, a rapid response team, closed space training, and lockout training. All new employees were put thru a day of orientation and safety training.
Did all our OSHA programs eliminate accidents completely? Of course not but the industry was much safer to work in as a result of it.....
Ah, yes, the risk free life.
I think it was because the air couldn’t get to it but I’m certain we sprayed it with water. Thanks for letting me see how to spell alfalfa. It’s been too many years and too early this morning. Regards.
Was always taught to be careful around silos. Climbing them alone was terrifying for me as I have acrophobia, but did it anyway.
And then there are PTO shafts. Yeesh. One of my high school friends was wrapped around one.
Sky-is-falling fear-mongering written by some elitist clown who thinks “silo” is Jennifer Lopez’ sister.
The article refers to the accidents happening in “silos”, but it appears that these accidents in reality happened in grain bins that hold dried grain.
Traditional silos store ensiled fodder for feed—”silage”— that ferments and undergoes anerobic fermentation in order to be preserved from spoiling. The gases released during fermentation can provide deadly results, from both direct poisoning or from the consequenses of becoming overcome/unconscious while climbing into the silo. Traditional silos have hazzards that must be respected.
This story is more about entrapement and suffocation in dried grain stored in grain bins. Farmers are not going to call these structures “silos”, but the Times uses that imprecise term to make this hazzard appear like a greater threat than it actually is. The reporter has thus attempted to include traditional silos storing fermented fodder—that have their own distinctive hazzards—in with grain bins that store dried shelled corn or soybeans or other small grains and have the hazzard of entrapement for an individual that enters.
The idea that a man (boy) must go inside these things to loosen stuck corn/grain is ludicrous. Most farms today have millions of dollars of equipment, yet they store their product in antiquated, dangerous silos.
Some way of vibrating a silo might be a solution. Vibration would settle the grain, shake the stuff off the sides, & safely collapse false domes/bridges. Yeah, it might cost some money, but so do dead workers & over-regulation.
This is America! Fix it!
Living on the south-side of Chicago is a death trap, but the NYT doesn’t cry about that.
” Farmers are not going to call these structures “silos”, but the Times uses that imprecise term to make this hazzard appear like a greater threat than it actually is.”
There they go again, erring on the side of caution.
The answer to every problem is government when you're the government.
I don’t think we need big government on the farm, but farmers need a healthy lesson in industrial safety. Nearly all farm deaths are really industrial accidents and basic safety precautions could have prevented them. Just from the stories FReepers have mentioned;
1. Suspended load violations.
2. Confined space violations.
3. Material handling violations.
4. Chemical/Hazmat/MSDS violations.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.