Video promotes grain safety

FORREST – A new video from the Grain Handling Safety Coalition promotes safety and reminds people of the dangers involved with working in or near grain bins.

The video, which can be found at www.grainsafety.org, was two years in the making and is the fourth video from the coalition in six years. Two teenage boys were killed in a grain bin at Mt. Carroll, Illinois in 2010 and the story was recreated.

“Four boys went in the bin that day and two came out alive,” explained Peggy Romba, program manager for the Illinois Farm Bureau.

Romba and local farmer Stanley Blunier of Forrest presented the video during this year’s American Farm Bureau Federation convention in Phoenix.

“We are obviously trying to promote safety around grain bins and trying to save people’s lives,” said Blunier.

Blunier could not believe all of the individuals who shared personal stories about something that happened to them or a family member.

“Probably the worst one was a grandfather who told us they lost three grandchildren in a gravity wagon.”

According to Blunier, once a person starts sinking into flowing grain, they just have four or five seconds until they are completely buried. The information on the GHSC website is designed to get the public’s attention on how fast a grain accident can happen. It also discusses the lingering effects on communities and family members.

“We have people on there that five years later still can’t drive by a certain place without thinking about what happened,” Blunier said.

Romba says the coalition would be happy to perform training or present information at any area meeting.

“Safety costs a little, but accidents cost a lot,” Romba admits. “In that Mt. Carroll accident, there was an $18 million settlement. A harness and secured lifeline could have saved those lives.”