GREENVILLE — On Aug. 7, Greenville Township Emergency Services was awarded a grain rescue tube and training as part of Nationwide Insurance’s Grain Bin Safety Program.
Nationwide, along with its partners in Grain Bin Safety Week, is dedicated to helping first-responders save lives on farms across the country. It’s critical to make rescue tubes available to first-responders and to provide training.
From 2014 through 2018, Nationwide has awarded grain bin rescue tubes and training to 77 fire departments in 24 states. This year over 700 applications were submitted and only 34 were awarded. Greenville Township Emergency Services was fortunate to be one of the departments selected to receive this rescue tool.
According to researchers at Purdue University, more than 900 cases of grain engulfment have been reported with a fatality rate of 62 percent in the past 50 years. In 2010, at least 26 U.S. workers were killed in grain engulfment accidents — the highest number on record.
To help prevent further deaths and injuries, Nationwide collaborates each year with the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety (NECAS) to provide safety training. The director of NECAS travels to training locations with a state-of-the-art grain entrapment simulator and rescue tube. The comprehensive training sessions include classroom education and rescue simulations with the grain entrapment tool.
Greenville Township would like to thank the National Education Center for Agriculture Safety, Nationwide Insurance and the Jordan Insurance Agency for helping to provide this valuable rescue tool.
