FARMERS ELEVATOR ASSOCIATION

Employee injured when grain elevator explodes

On the afternoon of January 11, 1988, Employee #1 was working alone in a concret e grain elevator. Corn was being drawn from the bottom of a concrete storage bin and fed into a 209-foot-tall grain leg by a drag auger manufactured by Schlegal , Inc., North Cambridge, Minnesota. The corn was screened and then run into a lo ad-out bin. Employee #1 later told a coworker that he had stepped outside for a breath of fresh air when he heard the first of three explosions and was then str uck on top of the head by falling debris. He staggered into the business office, located approximately 200 feet away from grain elevator, to seek help. Employee #1 sustained multiple lacerations and a skull fracture, for which he was hospit alized. The electric power had gone out, stopping the office clock at 2:44 p.m. The source of ignition is believed to have been the Schlegal drag auger. The dra g chain had become jammed at the drive end of the auger where it emptied into th e grain legs. Charred grain radiated out from the jammed drag chain.