Stand Up 4 Grain Safety Week is opportunity for farms and businesses who handle grain to learn about safe handling of grain. The National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) is one of the event’s organizers.
Mike Seyfert, president and CEO of NGFA, says the spring event coincides with more activities around bins.
“As you begin your season, it’s really important to stop and think through what our best safety practices are and how am I going to make sure I protect myself, my friends, my family and my co-workers,” he says. “Spring is a new beginning, and as we come out of those winter doldrums and look forward to getting back out and getting to work, that’s a really important time to stop and focus on that safety.”
The week is a collaboration between NGFA, OSHA, Grain Handling Safety Council and the Grain Elevator and Processing Society (GEAPS). It’s focused on fostering relationships to be a proactive leader in enhancing workplace safety.
“There are a number of video and virtual events that will be going on, but we also encourage those in the industry to hold voluntary stand ups where they will really focus with their workers and team on a key issue to promote safety within their business or on the location they’re at,” says Seyfert.
Stand ups are a voluntary event for employers to talk with employees about best safety practices.
“Companies throughout the industry can conduct a stand up by taking a break to have a toolbox talk or discuss safety activities such as conducting safety equipment inspections, developing rescue plans, or discussing job-specific identified hazards,” says Seyfert. “It’s important to remember that a small change from an employee makes the workplace a safer place to save lives. A lot of this is about repetition.”
That repetition should make grain bin safety as instinctive as buckling your seat belt when getting in a vehicle.
“That’s the same goal here is through these activities, it becomes a reflexive habit you don’t even think about—every time you walk into a location or facility, automatically you initially do that without even thinking about it,” he says.
These resources are available to anyone in the grain-handling industry. For links, click here.