OSHA Cites Texas Grain Elevator Operator Following Death

May 16, 2011

Taft Grain & Elevator Co. was cited with four willful and 16 serious violations by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), following the death of an employee who became engulfed in grain at the company’s work site in Taft.

The company was fined $188,000 for the citations.

At least 26 U.S. workers were killed in grain entrapments last year, and the number of entrapments is increasing, according to researchers at Purdue University.

There were more grain entrapments in 2010 than in any year since Purdue researchers started collecting data on entrapments in 1978.

Source: Occupational Safety and Health Administration