Silo safety compliance project

Silo safety compliance project

silo1 banner pic

Overview

Farmers and workers are seriously injured or killed every year while working on, or inside silos. The three biggest reasons are:

  • falls from heights
  • being overcome by oxygen depleting fumes or dust in confined spaces, and,
  • getting dragged into augers.

SafeWork NSW Inspectors visited 127 farms from December 2020 to April 2021 as part of a Silo safety compliance project to secure compliance and talk with farmers and workers about how to work safely on, or inside silos.

During the project, inspectors issued 151 notices, including 35 confined space notices, 37 machine guarding notices, 32 falls from heights notices and 22 electrical safety notices.

Inspectors checked compliance with managing falls from heights, working in confined spaces, machine guarding, auger guarding, electrical safety, emergency planning, fire and explosion risks, worker training and machine maintenance and inspection.

SafeWork NSW will continue to focus on silo safety as a key priority under the Agriculture Work Health and Safety sector plan.

Background

The nature of work in the Agriculture industry makes it high risk and this is reflected in both the high rates of fatalities and serious worker’s compensation claims.

In the period 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2019, 51 incidents were notified to SafeWork NSW related to work in or around silos of which 21 were serious injuries. An estimated 60 people are seriously injured each year on Australian farms using grain augers. In April 2020 a young worker had his leg amputated after it became entangled in an unguarded auger. Workers being overcome by fumes or dust from grains while working inside confined spaces has tragically led to several deaths since 2014 and 30 people have died on Australian farms in the last decade falling from heights.

SafeWork NSW commenced a dedicated project on silo safety in May 2020. This included the development of a number of silo safety resources such as the ‘Safe use of Silo’s augers, field bins on farms self- assessment checklist’ and a webinar to assist farmers work through the self-assessment checklist. Video safety alerts were created on the top 3 causes of injuries being falls from heights, working in confined spaces and auger safety.

SafeWork NSW undertook a targeted communications campaign to advise of the commencement of the silo safety project and to provide resources on how to be silo safe. Communications were disseminated through SafeWork NSW’s website, an article in SafeWork NSW’s the Wrap publication and through Inspector contact with NSW farmers. A Facebook social media campaign was undertaken highlighting the 3 video safety alerts which generated – 44,381 Reach and 80,239 impressions.

Silo safety site visits

As part of the Silo safety project, SafeWork NSW inspectors visited 127 farms state-wide. The site visit consisted of the Inspector working through the SafeWork NSW publication Safe use of Silo’s augers, field bins on farms self-assessment checklist with the farmer and workers.

SafeWork NSW has Regional teams of Inspectors covering Hunter, Mid North Coast, Illawarra, South Coast, Northern NSW, Riverina-Murray and Central West. Below is a map which shows where the visits took place.

Silo Visit Map V2

The farms visited ranged from poultry, sheep, beef and grain farms and were small (1-20) to medium (21-100) in employee numbers.

Notices issued

Inspectors issued 151 notices, including 150 Improvement Notices and 1 Prohibition Notice.
No Infringement Notices were issued.

Prohibition notices

Table 1.  Hazardous chemicals
Reason for issueNotices issued
Manage Risks - PCBU1

Improvement notices

Table  2 . Plant
Reason for issue Notices issued
Guarding - PMC 35
Manage risks - PMC 2
Total 37

Table 3. Confined spaces
Reason for issue Notices issued
Entry permit - PCBU 1
General entry - PCBU 17
Risk assessment - PCBU 16
Training - PCBU 2
Total 35

Table 4. Falls
Reason for issue Notices issued
Emergency/rescue - PCBU 4
Other - PCBU 24
Safe access/exit - PCBU 4
Total 32

Table 5. Electrical
Reason for issue Notices issued
Inspection / testing - PCBU 14
Overhead and underground electric lines devices - PCBU 1
Residual current devices - PCBU 5
Unsafe equipment - PCBU 1
Untested electrical equipment - PCBU 1
Total 22

Table 6. General
Reason for issue Notices issued
General workplace management - information, training, instruction - PCBU 14
General Work Health and Safety Notice - primary duty of care - PCBU 1
Total 15

Table 7. Emergency plan
Reason for issue Notices issued
Must prepare - PCBU 4

Table 8. Hazardous chemicals
Reason for issue Notices issued
Safety equipment - PCBU 2
Manage risks - PCBU 2
Total 4

Table 9. Fire and explosion
Reason for issue Notices issued
Specific controls - PCBU 1

Findings

Working in and around silos remains a significant risk on NSW farms. The aim of the silo farm safety compliance project was to:

  • educate farmers and secure compliance on the 3 main risks associated with silo’s, being, falls from heights, being overcome by oxygen depleting fumes in confined spaces and, people getting dragged into augers.
  • educate farmers on SafeWork NSW resources and have them complete the Safe use of Silo’s augers, field bins on farms self-assessment checklist May 2020.
  • save lives by preventing incidents on farms that involve silos.

Inspector observations and compliance activity highlighted non-compliance issues in relation to the top 3 causes of silo incident being falls from heights, being overcome by oxygen depleting fumes or dust in confined spaces, and, getting dragged into augers.

Inspectors secured compliance by the provision of advice, information and through compliance activity of issuing Notices.
SafeWork will continue to work with major stakeholders and key influencers in industry through its state-wide dedicated regional team to increase awareness and improve overall standards and commitment to working safely in and around silos.

More safety information is available on the SafeWork NSW website.


Silo graph 1

This article on silo safety compliance project can be downloaded here.