The following are highlights from the 2022 findings:
- No fewer than 83 cases, 24 fatal and 59 non–fatal,1 involving agricultural confined spaces were documented in 2022, representing a 40.7% increase over the 59 cases in 2021
- There were no fewer than 42 grain related entrapments in 2022 representing a 44.8% increase over 2021. This was the highest number of grain entrapments in over a decade.
- The balance of 41 cases involved livestock waste handling facilities, entanglements inside confined spaces, falls from confined space structures, and grain dust explosions or fires
- Eight incidents involved more than one victim
- Eleven cases involved livestock waste storage pits or lagoons, eight of which were fatal
- Three grain dust explosions resulting in 18 non–fatal injuries were documented2. Fifteen of these injuries were attributed to a single incident in Iowa.
- One female case was documented in 2022, which occurred inside a cotton module builder
- 29% (24) of 2022 cases were fatal compared to 59% historically
- Iowa reported the most cases, 24, including those relating to fires and explosions (fifteen of these cases resulted from a single explosion incident), followed by Indiana (6), Minnesota (6) and Ohio (6)
- Iowa reported the most grain–entrapment cases in 2022 (9). Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois, in that order, have historically recorded the most grain entrapment cases
- OSHA Regions 5 and 7 have historically accounted for 67.9% of all documented agricultural confined space–related incidents
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