The first university-owned feed mill in Iowa was the site for the kickoff of the 2025 Stand Up 4 Grain Safety Week, an annual training and educational event that reminds agriculture industry employers and workers about the potentially deadly hazards present in confined spaces, including grain engulfment.
This year’s event, held March 24-28, is a joint effort by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Alliance Program, the Grain Handling Safety Council, the Grain Elevator and Processing Society, and the National Grain and Feed Association. At the Iowa State University in Ames, the opening event focused on worksite housekeeping, hearing conservation, preventing struck-by incidents, and railway safety.
OSHA’s Alliance Program, in collaboration with state workplace safety officials and industry leaders, helped reduce fatal grain entrapments by 25.7 percent from 2022 to 2023. Despite those efforts, half of reported grain entanglements in 2024 were fatal.
“Every worker should be able to go home safe at the end of the day,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Amanda Wood Laihow. “By working together with our alliance and industry partners, we’re making grain handling safer and raising awareness to protect the people who produce our nation’s vital food supply.”
Stand Up 4 Grain Safety Week features open discussions and daily interactive webinars with experts on OSHA regulations and topics including fatigue, emergency safety planning, worksite housekeeping, railway safety, and alternative grain storage. Learn more, register for the webinars, and find local live event information.
Alliance members will share information through newsletters, emails, the Stand Up 4 Grain Safety webpage, and social media using the hashtag #StandUp4GrainSafety.
OSHA’s Grain Handling Safety Standards address six major hazards: engulfment, falls, auger entanglement, struck-by incidents, combustible dust explosions, and electrocution. Learn more about agriculture safety resources. and learn about OSHA.
***Courtesy of the U.S. Department of Labor***
