Silo Maintenance Worker
Gets Caught In Auger

In the winter of 1995, a 27-year-old worker for an agricultural maintenance company was killed while repairing an end plate bearing on a bottom-unloading silo auger. The man was working inside a 20-foot diameter cement silo filled with corn silage, repairing a sweep auger that was damaged due to frozen feed. This type of auger has sharp knives along its entire edge. The silage in the silo was supported only by the frozen edges near the inside perimeter of the silo The victim had entered the silo by removing an access door in its base and tunneled through the silage to gain access to the bearing. He hung a trouble light in the area by wrapping its cord around a large screwdriver and jamming this into the frozen silage. The man was lying on the floor of the silo, on the backside of the sweep, behind the auger safety shield when he shouted to a co-worker that he was clear of the auger. These men had worked together many times and had developed a system of verbal communication, however, they did not follow lockout/tagout procedures. The co-worker, who was outside the silo, turned on the auger for approximately 15 seconds to dislodge frozen corn silage in the auger. At that time the victim apparently reached to move the trouble light hanging near the auger, and caught his arm in the moving auger, severing his arm and shoulder, and causing fatal chest injury.

#1 Employers should develop, implement, and enforce a comprehensive written safety program.

—Silo equipment hazards include entanglement, oxygen deficiency, silo gas, and entrapment.

—Employers should have written safety programs to address these potential hazards.

—The employer should ensure that this program is implemented and enforced on remote job sites.

#2 Employers servicing silo equipment should provide proper training and equipment for confined space entry. 29 CFR 1910.272 (g)(6) states “Employees shall not enter bins, silos, or tanks underneath a bridging condition, or where a buildup of grain products on the sides could fall and bury them.”

—Workers should not enter a silo under hazardous conditions.

—Before entry workers should ensure the oxygen level is adequate and silo gases are not present.

—Secondly they should ensure by shoring that they will not become entrapped under falling silage.