Farm Safety

Call Before You Dig – Dial 811

Farmers need to be aware of critical underground utility facilities, such as rural water, fiber optic, electric, pipeline and high-pressure gas distribution systems, on their property. Utilities can be buried at various depths beneath farm fields. Projects such as tile plowing, building waterways and setting posts require a call to JULIE.

Protect yourself, your farm, your family and your community. Striking a single buried utility can result in high repair cost, immense property and environmental damage, injury and most importantly, loss of lives.

A call to “811” is the simplest way to prevent loss of life and damage to underground utilities. You owe it to your family, your farm and your neighbors to dig safely. Do not assume that you know what is underground in the area you are digging. Do not make a judgment call. Make a free phone call – to 811 – before every digging project.

To learn more, visit www.call811.com.

5 steps to Safer Digging

  1. Pre-mark the dig site with white paint or flags

  2. Call JULIE at 8-1-1 or go online (illinois1call.com) to submit your own locate request before you dig

  3. Wait the required amount of time (two business days)

  4. Respect the marks

  5. Dig with care

When farmers call either 8-1-1 or 800-892-0123, they will speak with a JULIE Call Center Agent who will take the location and description of the project site and notify affected member facility owners and operators. These members will then send a professional locator to mark the approximate location of their underground utility lines with small flags, markings or paint at no cost. (JULIE personnel do not perform locating or marking services).

Grain Safety

Best Practice Prevention Strategies

2021 Statistics

  • 29 grain entrapment incidents were reported in 2021 representing a 17.1% decrease from the 35 recorded in 2020. 38% of those were fatal. Many more incidents remain unreported each year. (Source: Purdue University)

  • Illinois reported the most grain-entrapment cases in 2021 (5). Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois, in that order, have historically recorded the most grain entrapment cases.

  • Two female cases were documented in 2021, one involved a grain entrapment and the other involved an auger entanglement

Did You Know?

  • In 4 seconds, an adult can sink knee-deep in the suction of flowing grain. At this point, he or she can’t free themself without help. (Source: Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health)

  • Suffocation from engulfment is a leading cause of death in grain bins. (Source: OSHA)

  • Flowing grain behaves like quicksand. An adult can be completely buried (engulfed) in 20 seconds. Most engulfed victims do not survive. (Source: Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health)

  • From 2011 to 2021, there were 335 grain entrapment incidents reported. 38% of those were fatal. (Source: Purdue University)

  • Most entrapment and engulfment events occur because workers enter a bin or storage structure to check on condition of grain or to address problems with grain flow due to spoiled grain or equipment malfunction. (Source: Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health)

  • Around 80% of reported engulfments involve a person inside a bin or storage structure when grain-unloading equipment is running. Engulfments in flowing grain also occur in outdoor grain storage piles, grain wagons, rail cars, and semi-trailers that unload from the bottom. (Source: Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health)

  • The best ways to prevent engulfment incidents are to eliminate the reasons for entering a bin in the first place, and to restrict unauthorized access by youth or other individuals who may be unaware of hazards. (Source: Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health)

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