Tag Archive for: teen death

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Kremlin Boys Still Critical

By Robert Barron, Staff WriterEnid News and Eagle

ENID — Two Kremlin youths caught in a grain auger remain in critical condition Sunday at OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City.

Tyler Zander and Bryce Gannon, both 17, were seriously injured Thursday morning when they were pulled into a large grain auger at Zaloudek Grain Co. They were extricated from the auger by emergency responders and flown to OU Medical Center, where they were listed in critical condition Sunday, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

A 911 call was received at about 9:10 a.m. from another worker who was in the same building where the two teens were trapped. The boys were taken from the building at about 10:30 a.m. and flown to the hospital.

Kremlin Fire Chief Derrick Harris said the boys went straight to surgery upon arrival.

The two were caught by their legs while working in the auger, and rescue workers had to cut the auger before Gannon and Zander could be removed.

The incident is under investigation by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. Administration officials said the result could take up to six months to complete. There have been no previous violations at Zaloudek Grain Co.

Through mutual-aid agreements, Kremlin received assistance from Breckinridge, Enid, Hillsdale-Carrier, Hunter and Pond Creek fire departments in the incident. Garfield County Sheriff’s Department also responded, as did Life EMS, said Enid and Garfield County Emergency Management Director Mike Honigsberg.

Honigsberg said two helicopters from Eagle Med also responded

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Tragedy in Southern Illinois Reinforces Farm Safety Reminders

from Illinois Corn

https://www.ilcorn.org/daily-update/132-tragedy-in-southern-illinois-reinforces-farm-safety-reminders/

In an incredibly unfortunate turn of events last week, two southern Illinois teens died in a tragic accident on a farm, the victims of electrocution. Our thoughts and prayers center on the affected families at this time. In this time of loss, IL Corn hopes that everyone will remember the price paid by these two young men and invest in your own families and employees the time needed to properly handle on-farm safety issues.

 Yesterday marked the beginning of National Farm Safety Week. “Growing the Most Important Crop,” this year’s theme, focuses on making farms and ranches safer for farmers, their family members and employees with special emphasis on children.

People of all ages, but particularly children, are at risk of injuries on the farm. With more than 1 million youth living on farms, reaching out to adults with information on how they can reduce risks to the children in their care is critical to preventing farm and ranch incidents and fatalities.

More than half of young people living on farms and ranches pitch in doing chores, with those age 10 to 15 helping the most. Another 307,000 youth not living on farms are hired as employees each year.

According to the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety, the rate of childhood agricultural injuries has declined by nearly 60 percent over the last decade or so but many children still die in farm accidents every year in the U.S. and others are injured, often seriously. Youth fatalities on farms were most often attributed to machinery (including tractors), followed by motor vehicles including all-terrain vehicles. Falls accounted for 40 percent of non-fatal youth injuries on farms.

The tragic electrocution death of the southern Illinois teenagers is drawing national attention to the need for safety precautions when working with long and tall equipment near overhead power lines. The southern Illinois 18 year- olds were working to free a raccoon, which had crawled inside an aluminum pipe used for irrigation, when the pipe touched an overhead electric wire.  When the teens hoisted the 31 foot pipe into the air, the wind pushed it into the wire. They became the path to the ground for the electricity and both were fatally injured from the deadly voltage.

The increasing size of farm equipment raises the risk of contact at field entries and along end rows, where overhead electric wires may be present. The taller equipment may not always allow the recommended 10 foot separation when passing beneath or near the power lines. In agricultural areas the vertical clearance required is less than the clearance over roadways and streets.  Never assume that because the machinery passed under the lines in one area means it will adequately clear another area.

Any part of an implement that can touch a power line offers a potential path to the ground for the electric current.  Farm equipment operators who are working on the ground with the equipment can become the path for the deadly current flow.  Such equipment not only includes large tillage equipment, but antennas, grain augers, auger wagons, and truck beds with hydraulic lifts.