COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — When someone becomes helplessly engulfed in grain, rural firefighters are often the first and only line of defense. Unfortunately, many departments lack the specialized techniques and equipment necessary for a successful grain bin rescue. In conjunction with Grain Bin Safety Week (February 20-26), Nationwide Insurance is teaming up with the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety (NECAS) to award emergency first responders with grain rescue tubes and hands-on rescue training to help save lives. This giveaway is also made possible by the generous support of many other partners, including CHS Inc., West Side Salvage, Specialty Risk Insurance, and Lutz Agency Inc.
Winners will receive:
- One (1) grain rescue tube, valued between $3,000 and $5,000
- One (1) six-hour grain entrapment rescue training session, at winner’s location, valued at up to $5,000. Training includes proper rescue procedures and use of the grain rescue tube, rescue auger, body harness/lifelines, and lockout/tagout.
Entries to the contest must be submitted no later than April 30.
To enter, describe how your local fire department or emergency rescue team, other nearby departments, and your community would benefit from grain entrapment training and a rescue tube. Please include your contact information, as well as the name, address and phone number of the fire department or rescue team being nominated. Entries may be submitted by the general public or by firefighters who wish to nominate their own department. Employees and agents of Nationwide Insurance are not eligible to submit entries for the contest. For more information visit nationwide.com and search for “Grain Bin Safety Week.”
Nominations can be submitted in one of three ways:
- Online: https://www.mynsightonline.com/nominate-your-fire-department-form
- Via email: gbswinfo@nationwide.com
- Mail to: NECAS, Grain Bin Safety Week Contest, 8342 NICC Dr., Peosta, IA 52068
Since 2014, the contest has received over 7,000 nominations and has awarded grain rescue tubes and hands-on rescue training to 207 fire departments in 31 states. Five of these fire departments have used their rescue tubes to save the lives of entrapped workers. Dan Neenan, Director of NECAS, travels with a state-of-the-art grain entrapment simulator to deliver the rescue tube and training to the winning fire departments. In 2021, a total of 55 rescue tubes were awarded across the nation. Since the program’s inception, there have been a total of 42 rescue tubes awarded to fire departments in the Northeast. The number of rescue tubes awarded to fire departments in Northeastern states are as follows:
- Pennsylvania-18
- New York-10
- Delaware-6
- Maryland-5
- New Jersey-2
- Vermont-1
For more information on this topic, contact Jim Carrabba at jim.carrabba@bassett.org or (800) 343-7527 ext. 2216. Jim Carrabba is an agricultural safety specialist for the New York Center for Occupational Medicine and Health (NYCAMH) as well as the Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety in Agriculture, Forestry and Commercial Fishing.
–Jim Carrabba
Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety
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