Iowa Workers' Compensation Accident at Cooperative Elevator Association - Ocheyedan

Farm work is dangerous, as is working at a cooperative elevator. Elevator workers can get killed or seriously injured from working around something as seemingly safe as stored corn just as easily as from working around moving parts and machinery. Like most jobs the key to staying safe is in having knowledge of the risks, how to avoid those risks and having an employer provide the proper safety equipment and information.

In the case today we aren't saying anyone did anything wrong, but then again a man is dead and something must have gone wrong.

A 37-year-old worker from Ocheyedan, Iowa was removing corn from a "unit" at the Cooperative Elevator Association fell into the corn bin around 6:00 a.m., Tuesday, June 7, 2011 (Corey Wingate of Ocheyedan). He suffocated to death or was asphyxiated. Like quicksand corn in a bin has the ability and characteristics to be able to suffocate a person that falls in and quickly descends into the corn.

Should he have been wearing a lanyard to arrest his fall and to use to pull himself out in the even he did fall? Was one provided? Was he properly trained to know the risks and how to avoid the risk of falling into the bin and then how to arrest himself. What about a communication system whereby on his shoulder was strapped a communication device accessible in the event he needed help. There are many ways to avoid or lessen the risk of suffocation, the main one being the fall arrest equipment.

Some people refer to it as fall arrest gear other as fall protection equipment; both do the same thing. When you fall it stops you from hitting the ground and/or slows your descent or allows you to sit tight while help works to get you back on solid ground. This one company, RTC Custom Solutions creates fall protection equipment just for grain elevators.

What happens to the widows and widowers of farm or elevator workers killed in Iowa?

Iowa has a very progressive and favorable system in place called workers' compensation. This system of compensation provides for lifetime benefits for the dependents of workers killed while doing their jobs. Dependent children may receive compensation through four years of college or till age 22. To understand more about Iowa's Workers' Compensation program see a lawyer that can explain the finer points of the program. Remarriage will terminate your benefits unless you first commute those benefits, so talk with a lawyer before you announce your engagement publicly. You may want to first commute the life benefits to avoid the two-year remarriage penalty.