Nebraska grain handler cited over worker’s asphyxiation death

A Nebraska company has been cited by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration after a worker died while attempting to clean out a grain silo last summer.

The 34-year-old employee was engulfed by corn and asphyxiated while trying to clean out the silo in Roseland, Nebraska, on Sept. 12, 2022.

The company, CHS Inc., operating as Agri-Service Center Roseland, disregarded federal regulations designed to prevent these types of worker deaths, and investigators found that the employee’s personal protective equipment was inadequate for protecting against engulfment hazards, according to OSHA.

OSHA said the employer failed to equip the worker with a proper body harness and lifeline that could have been used by workers to rescue him. Inspectors also found that the company kept a retractable lifeline tripod on site, but that the device was not designed to be used for side entry into grain.

The company was cited for two willful and 14 serious violations and OSHA proposed $531,268 in penalties. The company has 15 days to contest the citations.