Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Objective 1  Develop a white paper that addresses agricultural confined spaces Bill Field from Purdue University has led an effort to develop this white paper. The draft white paper had been handed out and discussed at various professional meetings, including ASABE and ISASH and the comments logged. He also developed a 2011 summary of grain entrapments in the United States, as documented by Purdue, which included 2011 data as well as data from previous years. Daily searches were conducted for cases, using everything from Google to Westlaw. A manuscript was submitted to JASH reporting on 1255 cases of confined space injuries and deaths, and said he believed the manuscript had been accepted. As a result of his talks with the grain vacuum industry, which did not think its machines could cause entrapment, these machines are now labeled accordingly. Objective 2  Sponsor a national conference on agricultural confined spaces An agreement with Kelley Donham of the Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health (GPCAH) at the University of Iowa is in place to use the annual GPCAH November conference as a vehicle for presentation of the work being done on agricultural confined spaces. This conference would be held in Cedar Rapids, IA, on November 14-16, 2012, and would include a half-day field trip to the large Amana Farms complex nearby. The conference is being promoted as a GPCAH conference and a collaborative event with NCERA-197. Field and Aherin both recieved OSHA-funded projects as a result of drafts of this white paper. Purdue is focusing on surveillance, development of four training modules for the FFA curriculum website, and an eight-hour training course on grain entrapment rescue. Illinois is developing four training modules for adult workers; a fifth will be developed by GPCAH. Each module will be designed to be taught in 1.5 to 2 hours. Illinois has developed a coalition on grain storage safety and OSHA has indicated it likes the coalition. There will be a curriculum committee to develop the modules and community-based training methods. Eventually this will all be translated into Spanish. Michael Pate from Utah State conducted a grain storage survey and is also working with the Utah educational network on grain storage safety. Penn State is working on a 2 to 3-year project to develop online design software for engineers to use in designing manure pit ventilation. Objective 3  Encourage research and outreach at land grant universities on agricultural confined spaces Murphy provided stakeholder input for AFRI grants to help get farm safety written into RFAs. Dee Jepsen noted that the Priester conference had several farm safety presentations. Field discussed his conversations with Kareem Dale, President Obamas special assistant on disability issues, and noted that AgrAbility was written into the Farm Bill. Objective 4  Encourage new and improved ASABE Standards. It was noted that ASAE EP470 JAN1992 (R2005), Manure Storage Safety, needs revision to incorporate the latest information. (Since its adoption in 1992, it has not been revised, and was last reconfirmed in February 2005.) Randy Beaver at Purdue had been developing suggested revisions to EP470 and that Field would be forwarding those to Murphy. Field noted that there is no ASABE standard on grain storage safety. However, he reported that an external committee chaired by ASABE Past President Harmon Towne, who is a retired president of a grain bin manufacturer, has a subcommittee to draft a standard to be submitted to ASABE. Field helped develop the Purdue Extension bulletin S-77, Beware of Flowing Grain Dangers. Jepsen has helped develop a pony cart standard which is in progress, and Field developed newly-published JASH paper proposing the need for a hitch-pin standard. Objective 5  Identify the next high priority topic for the Committee Penn State is developing a safety and health resource manual for new and beginning farmers; developing a manual for farm operators/managers to use in teaching safety and health to new employees, is holding tractor driving workshops; and is developing a manual on how to teach tractor driving. Jepsen conducted an online survey about agricultural safety and health teaching had been sent to members of the agricultural safety community. Objective 6  Work to increase infrastructure support within the land grant system for agricultural safety and health Aaron Yoder developed a new eXtension.org Community of Practice known as FReSH, or Farm and Ranch eXtension in Safety and Health. The CoP is in operation and has been focusing on new and beginning farmers. It also provides a place for investigators that are studying Agricultural Safety and Health to disseminate their findings.