Agricultural Safety & Health

The 2009 harvest hasn’t been an easy one.  Mold and mold spores are more prevalent this year but are they making you sick?

Grain dust is a mixture of organic and inorganic particles. This mixture commonly includes plant material, bacteria, soil, mold and mold spores, insect parts and excereta, and endotoxins. When you breath in grain dust some of the particles can make their way into your respiratory system and have an adversely effect your health.

While you’re operating the combine, unloading the grain wagon, or working around the drying area and bins; you’ll have some level of exposure to grain dusts. How your body reacts to the exposure can vary from mild to severe. Conditions that you could experience include bronchitis, farmer’s lung or ODTS.

Controlling Exposure Risks

Grain dust exposure and the associated problems and health symptoms are complex.  Here are some specific things you can do to control your risk:

• Have the correct and clean air filter in place when operating the combine. Use the appropriate setting on the blower in the cab whether you are using the heater or A/C.  This will minimize dust concentrations in the cab.  When replacing filters, make sure all gaskets are intact and that the air is being well-filtered.
• Avoid direct exposures to dust whenever possible, regardless of your sensitivity. Stay in the cab when unloading.  Use the wind to your advantage rather that standing directly in a cloud of dust any time grain is being moved.
• Properly adjust your combine to minimize grain damage. This will help to also minimize the amount of dust being generated.
• Wear a NIOSH-approved and certified “N-95” dust mask (respirator) that fits you properly. Especially, if you find yourself working in a very dusty situation that cannot be avoided.  CAUTION: Wear a respirator only if you are free of health problems, particularly with your heart and lungs.  Respirators are only effective if you are cleanly shaven.  Local health professionals can be a great source of information and can recommend the type of respirator that can be safely worn.  If you work in a facility where worker safety regulations for respiratory protection apply (such as a grain elevator or feed mill), there are other regulatory requirements before a dust mask can be worn by workers.
• Avoid dust exposure if you have any chronic respiratory health issues, including asthma, previous experience with FHP, or existing respiratory infections or conditions. Individuals who have these conditions should be alert for symptoms, even when working in a relatively clean environment like the cab of a combine, and should minimize their exposure to dust.
• If feeling sick, call your health care provider. If you find yourself working in a very dusty situation (like loading or cleaning out a bin or getting a heavy, prolonged exposure near a combine in the field) and end up feeling sick a few hours later, call for medical advice.  Again, your problem may be a condition like ODTS or FHP, but you may also have influenza or another illness.
• Smoking tends to make any type of symptoms or reaction caused by dust exposure much worse. Realize that smoking increases the risk of developing respiratory diseases such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

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Grain harvest is a stressful time. Mother Nature is adding to the stress of this year’s harvest with delayed growing season and wet weather. Paying attention to safety procedures can reduce your risk of serious or fatal injury.

Taking Care of Yourself

• Eat right. You wouldn’t add bad fuel to your combine or tractor so fuel yourself up with good nutrition.
• Drink water to stay hydrated. It will keep you going better than another can of soda with caffeine or more sugars.
  
• Get out and stretch. A few stretching exercises will help you feel more refreshed.
  
• When things aren’t going right, give yourself a break. Clear your head. Reduce that blood pressure and come back with a better focus.
  

Working with Combines

• Be sure all shields are in place.
• Never trust your life to a hydraulic system. Always use mechanical cylinder locks, jack-stands, or blocks before crawling beneath a header.
• Shut off the header and the engine before attempting to clear plugged material.
• Be sure your equipment has proper lighting and marking for road travel, including amber flashers, a bright, clean SMV emblem, and extremity markings or lights on the header so passing motorists can see the width of your machine.
• Stay out of the grain tank, especially during clean-out, unless the engine is off, to avoid entanglement in the augers.
• Watch for bystanders when maneuvering, especially when backing up, and keep children away.
• Remove trash buildup to minimize risk of fire. Keep at least one 10-pound fire extinguisher on board in case of fire.

Working with Wagons and Trucks

• Avoid unloading on uneven ground. As a gravity box is unloaded, the center of gravity shifts and the wagon could tip over.
• Keep the gravity box chained to the wagon bolsters. Four chains, one at each corner, are recommended for maximum safety in uneven terrain.
• Be sure wagons have proper lighting and markings.
• Always use locking hitch pins.
• Never get beneath a raised dump bed unless the system is mechanically locked or blocked.
• Keep children out of grain wagons and truck beds. They easily can be suffocated in the flowing grain during unloading. Or you may not see them when unloading the combine and bury the child.
  

Working with Augers and Grain Bins

• Augers should have a cage-type guard over the intake. Shields should be in place on the PTO driveline and gearbox connection. Any belt or chain drives should be shielded. If you take a shield off to make a repair, don’t try to save time by not putting it back on. An injury will take a much greater amount of time in the end.
• Be sure the auger is sitting properly on the undercarriage, to prevent sudden collapse.
• If using an electric motor, check that cords are in good condition and ground fault circuit interrupters are used in wet areas.
• If grain must be moved from a bin, never enter the bin during unloading, to avoid entrapment and suffocation in the flowing grain. The forces needed to pull someone buried in grain make rescue very difficult. Never enter a bin alone.
  
• Always use lockout-tagout procedures when working with electrically operated equipment. This helps to prevent someone else from turning on a machine when you do not expect it.

These are only a few possible hazards to consider during the harvest season. An injury- severe or fatal- is the greatest loss.

Stay safe out there!

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Unfortunately, the majority of the 2009 harvest will happen during the time of year with some of the shortest hours of daylight.  Road travel during harvest season always causes operators of farm machinery and trucks concern.  Being out on the road during low-light or darkness increases the risk for a motor vehicle -farm equipment crashes. Visibility is a key safety factor any time you’re operating on public roads but required during hours of darkness.

What are considered “hours of darkness?”

WI Statute 340.01 (23) defines Hours of Darkness as the period of time:

• from one-half hour after sunset
• to one-half hour before sunrise
• and all other times when there is not sufficient natural light to render clearly visible any person or vehicle upon a highway at a distance of 500 feet.

Picking an example date of November 7, with sunset at 4:42 pm standard time (ST) and sunrise at 6:40 ST, hours of darkness starts at 5:12 pm  ST and ends at 6:10 am ST.

What do I need to improve visibility of farm machinery during hours of darkness or low-light?

Start with the SMV emblem

Your SMV emblem should look like the one on the far right hand side.

Slow-moving-vehicle emblems (SMV) are required day or night. A SMV emblem is required on any vehicle or equipment, any animal-drawn vehicle or any other machinery, including all road machinery, that usually travels at speeds of less than 25 miles per hour.

If your SMV emblem needs replacing, look for one that meets ASAE standard S276.6 or reads “certified compliance with ASAE S 276.6.” These signs use new materials that increase their visibility to 1200 feet. You can see the difference in the photo. 

For further SMV emblem requirements go to “Questions and Answers on Light and Marking” under Road Safety in the Resource Section.

Add an Amber Flasher

In some cases it may work best to add an  amber flasher.  There are a variety of styles from battery powered temporary amber flashers to hard wired types. State statutes read  “a minimum 4 inch amber flasher.”  Check with your local farm equipment dealer for options that would work best with your equipment. Remember there are other requirements that still need to be met for lighting and marking during hours of darkness. An amber flasher isn’t a total substitute but a good option for increasing visibility.

Increase your extremity markings

Extremity marking tapes are also available in new materials like the SMV.  Extremity markings are valuable in helping motorists determine the widths of your machinery. This can be especially valuable in passing situations.

Lights, Turn Signals and Reflectors should be clean and present

It’s best to make cleaning lights and reflectors a part of your daily maintenance check. Dust and mud build-up can reduce the effectiveness. You want to be seen bright and bold in the daylight or darkness. Check that lights and turn signals are working properly.

Also, use your turn signals when out on the road.  A turn signal is a warning signal to motorists. If turn signals aren’t present, use hand signals. You have a responsibility as a driver too.

Don’t be in the dark – Be Seen

When heading out on the public road, being seen by motorists is an important step in your safety. Stopping distances are short between motor vehicles and farm equipment. Give yourself every advantage to be visible for motorists. Remember when you take to the road, light up your farm equipment like a Christmas tree.

If you have additional questions, please feel free to submit them using the following contact form.

Filed under: road safety, tractor and machinery | Tagged: amber flashers, hours of darkness, road safety, smv emblem | No Comments »