KGFA to Stand Up with NGFA for Grain Safety Week April 13-17

10 Apr KGFA to Stand Up with NGFA for Grain Safety Week April 13-17

Kansas Grain and Feed Association is working with National Grain and Feed Association and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to publicize a major safety outreach effort – the “Stand Up for Grain Safety Week” – from April 13-17, 2020, to help raise awareness about grain handling and storage hazards and ways to prevent them, provide education and training, and convey safety best practices.

Throughout the week, members may participate by providing a focused activity and/or toolbox talk for employees on any hazard-prevention measure. Featured topics that NGFA and its safety partners — the Grain Elevator and Processing Society (GEAPS) and the Grain Handling Safety Council (GHSC) — will highlight throughout the week include: Preventive maintenance; machine/conveyor guarding; grain bin entry; and slips, trips and falls.

“As an association, we always look to create training programs emphasizing safety for our membership and the public in general,” President and CEO Ron Seeber said. “If we can distribute information and assist our members in staying on top of the latest technologies and methods to maintain a safe workplace, we’re doing our job.”

This year’s event also will be supplemented with safety-related information to protect employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, including a new NGFA Safety Tips Sheet and other resources that can be found on ngfa.org/covid-19.

“As the food and agricultural industry continues to work to provide essential human and animal food during the pandemic — during which grain, feed and processing facility employees have been deemed part of the nation’s ‘critical essential infrastructure’ — it may be more important than ever to bring awareness and practicability to best safety practices for grain handlers to maintain and protect our robust workforce,” said NGFA Vice President of Safety and Regulatory Affairs Jess McCluer in an April 8 press release. “We encourage all companies to participate in this effort and show their continued commitment to the health and safety of their employees.”

Participating companies are encouraged to fill out information about their safety activities on standup4grainsafety.org, which provides training materials and a certificate of participation. Participants can share safety success stories on social media with the hashtag: #StandUp4GrainSafety.

The campaign is hosted under the auspices of the NGFA-OSHA Alliance.

The NGFA has several resources, including Safety Tip Sheets, guidance documents and training videos, for companies wishing to become involved in the campaign on ngfa.org/safety.