Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1442699.015 - 74287 - Southeastern Grain Company Llc

Inspection Information - Office: Sc Department Of Labor, Licensing, And Regulation

Investigation Summary

At about 8:30 a.m. on November 4, 2019, an employee was working for a wholesaler of grain and field beans. He entered a load out grain silo bin approximately 9 meters (30 feet) above ground level. The loadout bin cylinder was 4.3 meters (14 feet) in diameter and 6 meters (20 feet) long. The bottom cone of the load out bin was 2.1 meters (7 feet) deep. It was filled with corn. It held 10.3 cubic meters (291 bushels). The employee climbed up a ground silo's exterior fixed ladder, a portable ladder, and up the load out bin's exterior fixed ladder to reach a top hatchway to enter the load out bin. The employee descended the interior fixed ladder. He carried into the bin a piece of construction rebar, about 2.1 meters (7 feet) long, to poke clumped corn inside the bin. A few minutes later, the employee was no longer communicating to a coworker outside the bin by shouting or striking the bin wall. The coworker entered the load out bin. He found the employee engulfed inside the load out bin. The employee's legs were plugging the delivery chute at the bottom of the bin cone. The coworker's attempts to revive the employee were unsuccessful. The employee had suffocated from the engulfment. The Olanta Fire Department responded, and the response effort became a body recovery effort involving other local fire department crews with specialized equipment. The outside confined space rescue team entered after a panel had been cut out in the bottom cone of the bin. The employee was removed from the load out bin at about 2:43 p.m. He had been killed.

Keywords: Agriculture, Asphyxiated, Confined Space, Emergency Response, Engulfed, Grain, Grain Bin, Grain Elevator, Silo, Suffocated