National Grain and Feed Association

Over a Century of Service Protecting Your Business Interests

OSHA and NGFA Alliance

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) in 2017 formed a cooperative alliance, which will allow the grain, feed and processing industry to work more closely and collaboratively with the regulatory agency.

View the NGFA  Alliance Agreement here.

View OSHA’s NGFA Alliance page. 

The Alliance, signed by Deputy Assistant Secretary and Acting Assistant Secretary of OSHA Loren Sweatt and NGFA President Randy Gordon, during NGFA’s Board of Directors meeting in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 13, 2017, provides NGFA members and others with information, guidance, and access to resources that help to protect the safety of workers. This collaboration is designed to help NGFA build trusting, cooperative relationships with the Agency; network with OSHA staff to increase lines of communication within the Agency; leverage resources to maximize worker safety and health protection; and gain recognition as a proactive leader in safety and health. Through the Alliance, the NGFA and OSHA will focus on providing both NGFA members and OSHA staff with information guidance and access to resources regarding the safety and health hazards associated with grain bin entry, machine guarding, respiratory protection, falls, heat, combustible dust, struck-by and lockout/tagout.  

Stand-Up for Grain Safety Week is March 25-29

NGFA and OSHA are hosting a major safety outreach effort – the “Stand-Up for Grain Safety Week” – from March 25-29, 2019, to help raise awareness about grain handling and storage hazards, provide education and training, and convey safety best practices.

Industry Best Practice Sheets

View all 12 “Industry Best Practice” sheets in one document.

More Grain Safety Week Information: 

Visit the Stand-Up website. 

Read the press release.

Review the March 25 kickoff event agenda. 

NGFA Resources

NGFA Safety Tips and other training tools

Recent articles, press releases and issue advisories on safety.

NGFA-OSHA Alliance Priority Issues

Grain Handling Standards: View OSHA standards, Federal Register Notices, directives, letters of interpretation, and national consensus standards related to grain handling. 
Respiratory Protection: Respirators protect workers against insufficient oxygen environments, harmful dusts, fogs, smokes, mists, gases, vapors, and sprays.
OSHA's Heat Illness Prevention campaign, launched in 2011, educates employers and workers on the dangers of working in the heat.
Falls are among the most common causes of serious work related injuries and deaths. Employers must set up the work place to prevent employees from falling off of overhead platforms, elevated work stations or into holes in the floor and walls.
Any combustible material can burn rapidly when in a finely divided form. If such a dust is suspended in air in the right concentration, under certain conditions, it can become explosible. Learn more.
Failure to control hazardous energy accounts for nearly 10 percent of the serious accidents in many industries. Proper lockout/tagout (LOTO) practices and procedures safeguard workers from hazardous energy releases. 
Moving machine parts have the potential to cause severe workplace injuries, such as crushed fingers or hands, amputations, burns, or blindness. Safeguards are essential for protecting workers from these preventable injuries. Learn about standards, hazard recognition and possible solutions here.
Preparing before an emergency incident plays a vital role in ensuring that employers and workers have the necessary equipment, know where to go, and know how to keep themselves safe when an emergency occurs. These Emergency Preparedness and Response pages provide information on how to prepare and train for emergencies and the hazards to be aware of when an emergency occurs.

OSHA Emphasis Areas Relative to Grain Handling Industry

Agricultural operations are covered by several Occupational Safety and Health standards including Agriculture, General Industry, and the General Duty Clause. You can view all of the applicable OSHA standards, preambles to final rules, directives and standard interpretations for agricultural operations, as well as other Federal standards applicable to Agriculture on the OSHA website.
Electricity has long been recognized as a serious workplace hazard. OSHA's electrical standards are designed to protect employees exposed to dangers such as electric shock, electrocution, fires, and explosions.
Every year, thousands of workers become sick from occupational heat exposure, and some even die. These illnesses and deaths are preventable. Learn more about heat illness prevention. 
Since 2012, OSHA has partnered with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) - Construction Sector on the Fall Prevention Campaign to raise awareness among workers and employers about common fall hazards in construction, and how falls from ladders, scaffolds and roofs can be prevented.
Spanish-Language Compliance Assistance Resources: OSHA has compliance assistance resources for Hispanic employers and workers intended primarily for English-speaking and bilingual users. OSHA Hispanic Outreach Assistance: OSHA offers numerous Hispanic outreach compliance tools, programs and training resources to help employers and Spanish-speaking workers prevent and reduce injuries and illnesses in the workplace.
OSHA's Small Business Assistance provides numerous OSHA resources and information designed specifically for small business employers, including safety and health tools and publications, easy-to-follow guides for specific OSHA standards, and descriptions of benefits that small businesses receive from OSHA. 
Protecting Temporary Workers: To ensure that there is a clear understanding of each employer's role in protecting employees, OSHA recommends that the temporary staffing agency and the host employer set out their respective responsibilities for compliance with applicable OSHA standards in their contract. Including such terms in a contract will ensure that each employer complies with all relevant regulatory requirements, thereby avoiding confusion as to the employer's obligations.