Specialized Firefighter Training Helps Save Farmers’ Lives

(NewsUSA) – Becoming entrapped in a grain-bin remains a real safety hazard for farmers and other grain handlers. Firefighters who are trained in grain-bin rescue techniques can make a lifesaving difference in an emergency situation. To emphasize the importance of grain-bin safety, Nationwide, the No. 1 farm insurer in the United States, is partnering with agricultural professionals and other industry leaders to host the fourth annual Nominate Your Fire Department Contest in conjunction with Grain-Bin Safety Week.

All the winners of the contest each receive a grain rescue tube and hands-on rescue training. Since its debut in 2014, the contest has attracted over 1,000 fire department nominations and awarded grain-bin rescue tubes and training to 32 fire departments across 15 states. One of those winners, the Westphalia Fire Department in Kansas, used their new skills in 2015 to rescue a man entrapped in a grain-bin.

“Deploying a grain rescue tube is the only way to safely remove someone trapped in grain,” says Brad Liggett, president of Nationwide Agribusiness. “Until we can convince all farmers and other grain handlers to develop a zero-entry mentality, we will continue to make tubes available.”

The safety contest runs from Jan. 1 through May 31, 2017. To enter, submit your nomination online at grainbinsafety.com, via email, or regular mail. Describe how the favorite fire department or emergency rescue team and rural community would benefit from receiving grain entrapment training and a rescue tube. Nominators must provide their name, occupation, phone number, mailing address, and email address, as well as the name, address, and phone number of the fire department or emergency rescue team being nominated.

Grain-Bin Safety Week 2017 is made possible by Nationwide, CHS, West Side Salvage, Specialty Risk Insurance, ABIS, KC Supply Co., The Scoular Company, Aurthur J Gallagher & Co., NOHR Wortmann Engineering, National Farm Medicine Center and the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety.

For more information about the contest or the nomination process, visit grainbinsafetyweek.com.