By Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media The NGFA is working to encourage consistency among state, federal and local rules regarding business operations and COVID-19 emergency response efforts. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a guidance on March 19, and subsequently updated it on March 23, confirming food and agriculture as Tier 1 critical infrastructure industry, and identifying food and agriculture workers and transporters as critical employees who should continue to have access to ... Read More
Safety, Health & Environment
Purdue University releases grain entrapment statistics for 2019
By Jess McCluer, Vice President of Safety and Regulatory Affairs Purdue University’s Agricultural Safety and Health Program recently released its “2019 Summary of U.S. Agricultural and Confined-Space Related Injuries and Fatalities” report, which documents 38 grain entrapment cases that occurred in 2019. The 38 cases represent an almost 27 percent increase in grain entrapments from 2018, when 30 entrapments were recorded. The total number of fatal and non-fatal entrapments is the highest in four years. In 2019, the state with the most documented grain entrapments — fatal and non-fatal — ... Read More
Stand Up for Grain Safety Week 2020 still on!
The NGFA and Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) annual safety outreach effort, Stand Up for Grain Safety Week, is April 13-17. However, the official celebratory “kick off” event, scheduled for April 13 at the Eastern Nebraska Research and Extension Center in Ithaca, Neb., is postponed to align with federal guidelines due to concerns about the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). But NGFA and its safety partners will continue with extensive plans to distribute safety updates and encourage facilities to adopt best safety practices throughout the week of April 13. Stand Up ... Read More
Join the “kick off” event for Stand Up for Grain Safety Week 2020
To kick off the NGFA and Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) annual safety outreach effort, Stand Up for Grain Safety Week, the Eastern Nebraska Research and Extension Center in Ithaca, Neb., is hosting an opening event on April 13. The “kick off” event includes an on-site safety and health consultation program, as well as demonstrations with an entrapment simulator and training on grain bin entry and machine guarding. Agenda and registration information is available here. Stand Up for Grain Safety Week, April 13-17, helps raise awareness about grain handling and storage ... Read More
‘Grain bin deaths spike,’ warns OSHA letter
In a notice to midwestern grain facilities, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) warned that grain quality conditions are causing an unusually dangerous harvest year and encouraged companies to participate in the upcoming “Stand Up for Grain Safety Week,” being provided through the auspices of the NGFA-OSHA Alliance. In the Feb. 20 letter distributed to grain storage facility operators, OSHA’s Region V Acting Administrator Francis Yebesi said there have been at least 15 grain engulfment fatalities since August, compared with 27 deaths nationwide in 2018. The regional ... Read More
USDA unveils climate change initiative
A new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) initiative will work to reduce agriculture’s “environmental footprint” by 50 percent by 2050 while at the same time increasing farm production by 40 percent, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced during USDA’s Ag Outlook Forum in Arlington, Va., on Feb. 20. In a statement, USDA listed several benchmarks of the initiative, dubbed the “Ag Innovation Agenda,” including: Food Waste: A goal to reduce food loss and waste by 50 percent in the United States by the year 2030. Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse Gas: Achieve net reduction ... Read More
House passes legislation to increase ag inspections at borders
By Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media The House on Feb. 10 passed by voice vote an NGFA-supported bill that would authorize funding to hire additional Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel needed to conduct agriculture quarantine inspections at U.S. international ports of entry, the last step in the process toward the legislation becoming law. The NGFA joined more than 80 food and agriculture groups in support of the Protecting America’s Food and Agriculture Act of 2019 (H.R. 4482), which would authorize CBP to hire 240 agriculture specialists and ... Read More
OSHA: New resources available for hearing loss prevention
[Editor’s note: This article was submitted to NGFA by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.] Every year thousands of workers suffer from preventable hearing loss due to high workplace noise levels. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 22 million workers are exposed to potentially damaging noise every working day. In 2017, the Bureau of Labor Statistic (BLS) reported that hearing loss for all industries nationwide was 1.4 per 10,000 full time workers. Hearing loss continues to be the most commonly recorded occupational illness in manufacturing, according to ... Read More
New regional safety seminars begin in 2020
The NGFA again is partnering with the following organizations to conduct regional one-day Regulatory Compliance Seminars in 2020: Pacific Northwest Grain and Feed Association: Jan. 16 in Spokane, Wash. Registration form here. Montana Grain Elevator Association: Jan. 21 in Great Falls, Mont. Registration form here. Kansas Grain and Feed Association: Feb. 4 in Wichita, Kan. Texas Grain Elevator Association: Feb. 6 in Corpus Christi, Texas Agribusiness Council of Indiana: Feb. 21 in Indianapolis, Ind. The events conducted with NGFA’s Regional/State ... Read More
OSHA injury and illness records due March 2
Grain, feed and processing facilities are required to electronically submit data from their Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses forms to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) by March 2, 2020. Facilities can submit OSHA Form 300A using the Injury Tracking Application on OSHA’s website starting Jan. 2, 2020. Starting this year, employers also are required to include their Employer Identification Numbers (EIN) when filing their reports. OSHA issued a final rule on Jan. 25, 2019 that eliminated the previous requirement for establishments with 250 or more ... Read More
National Grain and Feed Association
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