The NGFA’s “Safety Tips” series is published periodically as part of the Association’s continued commitment to safety in the workplace. These documents and videos are designed to provide more information on certain types of hazards and suggested ways to protect employees through safety best practices. View each “Safety Tips” sheet below:
Browse Safety Tip Sheets (PDFs) >>
NGFA’s short training videos cover high-risk operations and provide practical steps to reduce incidents. Topics include:
Watch Safety Videos >>
The most recent safety training video funded by the National Grain and Feed Foundation outlines important housekeeping procedures and identifies potential ignition sources for combustible dust.
Working in or around a grain bin exposes farmers and workers to serious and life-threatening hazards, including entrapment and suffocation from engulfment. This video, funded by the National Grain and Feed Foundation, illustrates the connection between grain quality and safety.
NGFA Director of Safety, Education, and Training Jim Seibert reviews the basic safety precautions and equipment needed to enter a grain bin. This short video, funded by the National Grain and Feed Foundation, breaks down each step of the process to ensure managers and employees don’t miss a step and stay safe every day.
The National Corn Growers Association and the National Grain and Feed Foundation (NGFF) – the NGFA’s research and education arm – completed a joint video project to promote grain bin safety on the farm. Preview the video for more information.
Developed in 1998 by Purdue University under a contract with the NGFF, this program reviews the hazards associated with flowing grain and the most common types of grain entrapments at commercial facilities. Preview the video for more information. (Order Form-404 on live site)
Order FormDeveloped jointly by the NGFA and Grain Elevator and Processing Society (GEAPS), this safety training video is geared specifically to employees of grain handling, feed manufacturing and grain processing operations.
The 30-minute video, which also is available in Spanish, addresses many safety-related issues, including confined space safety.
Interactive, self-paced online courses offer deeper training in key safety areas, including:
Each year at the end of August, NGFA dedicates a week to sharing safety resources relevant to the busy harvest season.
Check out last year’s theme and content.
This Firefighting Manual contains information for operators of grain handling facilities and firefighters on emergency and firefighting procedures. The contents of the manual are primarily intended to address planning for and fighting fires in grain elevators. However, the information has significant applications for feed mills, processing plants, flour mills and other facilities that store and handle bulk agricultural commodities. Chemical fires also are addressed briefly, which has applications for fertilizer and chemical plants.
Download DocumentThis guide provides a basic overview of the changes made to the general industry standards addressing slip, trip, and fall hazards found in Subpart D of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards. The guide is meant to serve as a foundation upon which individual companies can build their own tailored plans specific to their facility, operations, personnel, and other conditions. Sample documents found in the appendices provide templates that may be used to update site-specific programs and procedures.
Download DocumentOn July 2023, OSHA issued a final amended E-Recordkeeping Rule that will take effect on January 1, 2024. OSHA intends for March 2, 2024, to be the first submission deadline for the latest information required to be submitted under this rule. Specifically, OSHA is amending its regulation to require establishments with 100 or more employees in certain designated industries to electronically submit information from their OSHA Forms 300 and 301 to OSHA once a year. Establishments with 20 to 249 employees in certain industries will continue to be required to electronically submit information from their OSHA Form 300A annual summary to OSHA once a year. All establishments with 250 or more employees that are required to keep records under OSHA’s injury and illness regulation will also continue to be required to electronically submit information from their Form 300A to OSHA on an annual basis. Grain, feed, processing and milling facilities that employ between 20-249 employees are required to submit the OSHA Form 300A annually and those with more than 100 employees are also required to submit OSHA forms 300 and 301 annually.
Download DocumentNGFA and the American Feed Industry Association released a hazard communication compliance guide for consideration and use by grain handling, feed, ingredient and processing facilities. With a June 1 implementation deadline approaching for compliance with major elements of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s recently revised Hazard Communication Standard (HCS), the associations created the document to ensure the industry is prepared for updated compliance requirements. For more information, download the free, nearly 50-page document.
Please note – If you share the document, please include the following information: “This document is distributed with the permission of the National Grain and Feed Association, the American Feed Industry Association, the Corn Refiners Association and the North American Millers Association.” We also ask that the credit include the name of the publication and the publication date (e.g., “The document Guidance: Hazard Communication Program at Grain Handling, Feed, Ingredient & Processing Facilities was originally published in May 2015”).
For more information, see the recorded webinar where experts from the organizations highlighted recent changes and provided answers to members’ most frequently asked questions.
Download DocumentNGFA prepared a guidance document to assist grain handling facilities in evaluating their boot pits to determine whether they meet OSHA’s definition of permit-required confined spaces.
Download DocumentThis guide provides basic concepts to assist grain handling facilities in developing and implementing a sweep auger operations safety policy.
Download DocumentNGFA’s efforts in promoting safety started in the 1980’s and we’re proud to partner with many likeminded organizations.
These resources are part of NGFA’s broader commitment to workplace health and safety, reinforced through regulatory engagement and industry education.
The NGFA’s extensive efforts to enhance safety include unprecedented research and education efforts launched in the early 1980s that helped lead to a dramatic reduction in the number of fire and explosion incidents in commercial grain-handling facilities in the late 1970s. The industry has demonstrated its commitment, before and after the promulgation of the OSHA’s grain handling standard, 29 CFR 1910.272, in 1988.
OSHA and NGFA AllianceThe U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) formed an alliance, which will allow the grain, feed and processing industry to work more closely and collaboratively with the regulatory agency. Learn more on the Alliance page.
OSHA currently has emphasis programs that apply to grain, feed, and processing facilities within the jurisdiction of all Regions V, VI, VII, VIII and X Area OSHA Offices. Based on these programs, inspections will primarily focus on the six major hazard areas of engulfment, falls, auger entanglement, struck by, combustible dust explosions and electrocution.
A significant increase in costs and loss of overall storage capacity for both concrete and steel bins were the findings of recent study on the application of the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) explosion/deflagration venting requirements per latest editions of NFPA 68 – Standard on Explosion Protection by Deflagration Venting. The NFPA standards are commonly used in North America (Canada, United States and Mexico) as the basis for determining if explosion venting is required and if so, the total amount of vent area required.
This study was financed by the National Grain and Feed Foundation and was conducted by the engineering firm Van Sickle, Allen and Associates in Minneapolis, Minn. The NFPA briefly considered conducting a research study to determine appropriate venting ratio data for silos utilized for storing agricultural commodities, including grains and oilseeds. The NFPA research was intended to follow up on one conducted through the NGFA’s Fire and Explosion Research Program in 1983. However, the NFPA Foundation ultimately decided not to pursue new research.
For more information, see an Executive Summary on the report.
To order a full copy of the 90-page study, the cost is $250 for non-NGFA members and $100 for NGFA members, contact Jess McCluer, NGFA Senior Vice President, Safety and Regulatory.
More information to come.
Safety News
Recent articles, press releases and issue advisories on safety and health issues can be found here.
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