On-Farm Confined Space Incidents Decline

The number of agricultural confined space-related injuries and fatalities declined in 2023, according to a study by Purdue University’s Agricultural Safety and Health Program.
Some 55 cases involving agricultural confined spaces were reported last year, almost 34% fewer that the 83 cases documented in 2022.
Of the 2023 cases, 28 were tied to livestock waste handling facilities, entanglements, and grain dust explosions or fires.
Roughly half were caused by grain entrapments, the leading cause of confined space-related incidents.
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Grassroots Wildland Firefighters is one of several advocacy groups pushing to include women’s cancers in workers’ compensation coverage.
Grassroots was one of a number of advocacy groups that wrote to the Labor Department asking that it “expand the official list of presumptive covered cancers to include all breast, ovarian, uterine, and cervical cancers.”
“Including these cancers under the existing presumptive coverage policy would ensure that all federal wildland firefighters, regardless of gender, receive equal protection and support,” the letter read.
Among the dozen-plus groups signing the letter were the International Association of Fire Fighters, the California Professional Firefighters, and the National Smokejumper Association.
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Some 49% of the world’s workers harmed on the job in the past two years didn’t report it, per a new report from Lloyd’s Register Foundation.
The report cited factors including fear of reprisal, lack of management responsiveness, obstacles in recordkeeping and belief that pain “is an ordinary consequence of some jobs.”
Additionally, 62% of the workers said they’d never received safety and health training, including 80% of those employed in agriculture.
However, the report found that the more recently people have had training, the more likely they are to report workplace harm if they experience it.
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