Grain entrapment, or grain engulfment, occurs when a person becomes submerged in grain and cannot get out without assistance. It most frequently occurs in grain bins and other storage facilities such as silos or grain elevators, or in grain transportation vehicles, but has also been known to occur around any large quantity of grain, even freestanding piles outdoors. Usually, unstable grain collapses suddenly, wholly or partially burying workers who may be within it. Entrapment occurs when victims are partially submerged but cannot remove themselves; engulfment occurs when they are completely buried within the grain.[1] Engulfment has a very high fatality rate.[2]

While the death rate from workplace accidents on American farms has declined in the first decade of the 21st century, grain-entrapment deaths have not, reaching an all-time annual high of 26 in 2010. Many of those victims have been minors.[3] Agricultural organizations have worked to protect them and improve rescue techniques, as well as spread awareness among farmers of prevention methods. Primary among these is a federal regulation that forbids opening an auger or other opening at the bottom of a grain storage facility while someone is known to be "walking down the grain" within.

Smaller family farms, however, are exempt from most federal labor regulation specific to agriculture, and no safety regulations govern children working for their parents. In 2011 the U.S. Department of Labor proposed sweeping new regulations that would have changed this, prohibiting underage workers from entering silos, among other provisions. They were withdrawn after protests from farmers and politicians of both U.S. parties.

A black and white illustration showing a worried-looking man sinking into swirling grain with the text "It takes only two to three seconds to become helpless in the flowing grain". In the upper right is a smaller cross-section of a grain storage bin with a figure trapped beneath the grain. At the bottom is text saying "Illustration of grain engulfment hazard."
U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration illustration of grain entrapment