ACCIDENT CLIPS AND SAFETY TIPS:
Two Teenage Farm Workers Killed in Silo; 
Victims of Silo Gas Poisoning

According to a news clip, two farm workers, ages 18 and 19, were killed on September 30, 1999, after entering a silo on a Sanilac County farm. The article indicated that the silo was filled and closed about five days before it was re-opened by the two workers. Silo gas was the cause of death as well as the injuries that were caused to three rescue workers during the recovery of the victims.

Safety Tip: Treat all silos as a potential threat for silo gas exposure. The highest concentrations of silo gas (nitrogen dioxide plus other oxides of nitrogen) usually develop within 48 hours after the silo has been filled. No one should enter a silo for four to six weeks after filling. Always consider every filled silo as a potential health threat regardless of the crop put into the silo or the crop year.

Whenever the silo is entered by the farmer/owner, even in the winter months, the silo filler blower should be run for at least 30 minutes. Even with this practice, silo gas could still be present inside the silo, especially in a low area or pocket on the surface of the silage. Farm managers must make sure that employees follow the rules for entering a "confined space" containing potentially hazardous gases as defined by the Michigan Department of Industry and Consumer Services.

Anyone exposed to silo gas should seek medical attention, regardless of the degree of exposure. Silo gas damages the respiratory system when nitrogen dioxide combines with the moisture in the lungs to form nitric acid.

Howard Doss

On September 16, 1999, two passengers in a farm wagon being pulled by a farm tractor on a public road in Mecosta County were struck by a car near dusk. One victim was air lifted to a regional medical trauma center and the other victim was transported by EMS to a local hospital according to an MSUE supplied news clip.

Safety Tip: Optional red tail lights are now just beginning to appear on some new farm equipment along with the new, highly reflective marking tapes to show the outboard edges of farm equipment. Retrofit lighting kits are available for farm equipment and farm wagons.

A SMV emblem is required on the tractor also. If not visible when you attach equipment, a second SMV should be attached at the proper height and centrally located on the attached farm equipment.

Lights must be used from a half hour after sunset to a half hour before sunrise, or when visibility is reduced to less than 5000 ft. (Michigan Compiled Laws 257.684). Also, an escort vehicle can follow a farm implement without lights behind the unit not more than 50 ft. with headlights on the escort vehicle that illuminates the implement of husbandry.

Last year we had about 280 farm equipment traffic crashes on Michigan public roads.

Howard Doss

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