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Tractor and Machinery Safety
Grain Auger Safety
Many grain augers used on farms have had the guard over the flight intake removed and not replaced.
Often these have been removed so that the auger can be used for grains that do not flow easily through the narrow mesh of the guard.
There is, on average, 1 death and 16 workers’ compensation claims per year involving grain augers. There will be many more injuries, as most day-to-day work on farms is done by self employed farmers and their families, and these injuries will not be included in the official workers compensation figures. It’s likely that there are around 60 serious injuries involving farm augers each year.
Most injuries are crush injury or amputation of fingers, hands, arms and feet caused by limbs being caught in unguarded auger flights. Effective guarding would prevent these serious injuries.
The guard is designed in two parts, a fixed inner guard and an outer guard that can be removed when the auger is used in silos, grain bins or in a guarded hopper, AND THEN BE EASILY REPLACED.
This guide provides farmers with practical information to build and retrofit a guard to older grain augers, improving safety of those people handling grain and using grain augers.