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This week during National Farm Safety and Health week there is a different point of emphasis for each day. Thursday the focus is Confined Spaces in Agriculture which would include grain bins and manure pits. Kendell Culp is a Jasper County farmer and Vice President at Indiana Farm Bureau. He says it?s smart to be focusing on safe grain handling.
?There was an entrapment in a neighboring county just a couple weeks ago where he was cleaning out a bin and became entrapped,? Culp said. ?They had to use the grain rescue tube that was actually donated by the county Farm Bureau and it saved the farmer?s life. A lot of times you don?t have that kind of a result. So, confined spaces is a real concern and farmers should exercise caution whenever you?re dealing with grain handling because we move a lot of grain this time of year.?
This is the time of year when heavy, slow-moving farm equipment is populating county and state roads. Culp asks Hoosiers to keep an eye out for those machines to keep your travels safe.
?Watch out if you see those red and orange triangles. That signifies slow moving vehicles and it just pays to be patient and you?ll get where you want to go. A lot of this equipment anymore is really tall and wide and big, and it doesn?t always move real fast, so we would just ask everyone to exercise caution. Actually most farmers are really good if there?s a place where they can get over and they have vehicles behind them, they?re really good about pulling over and letting the public get by.?
On the farm Culp encourages education and awareness for safe operations. The education and safety plans should extend to young people in or near the operation. He also highly recommends utilizing the resources and training available through Purdue University and your county extension office.
The post Farm Safety Week Focuses on Confined Spaces appeared first on Hoosier Ag Today.
