Silage review: Safety considerations during silage making and feeding

Abstract

Silage-related injury knows no age boundary as workers and bystanders of all ages have been killed in silage accidents. Even the best employee can become frustrated with malfunctioning equipment and poor weather conditions and take a hazardous shortcut, or misjudge a situation and take a risky action. At least 6 hazards are encountered in managing silage in bunker silos and drive-over piles that endanger lives: tractor or truck rollover, run-over by or entanglement in machinery, fall from height, crushing by an avalanche or collapsing silage, silage gases, and complacency or fatigue. These hazards are presented in detail along with accounts of 14 individual case studies involving several of them. Guidelines that can dramatically reduce the risk of serious injuries or fatalities from each of the hazards are presented. Every farm, feedlot, dairy, and silage contractor should have written safety policies and procedures for their silage program, and they should schedule regular meetings with all their employees to discuss and demonstrate safety. The most important goal in every silage program is to send all employees home safely to their families at the end of the day.