The time for manure pit safety is every day, because you never know when tragedy could strike. That’s the top message coming from the experts at the Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health in Iowa City, Iowa, which is a great reminder as we edge closer to the traditional time to start removing manure from pits.
In the center’s new fact sheet, Manure Storage Pit Dangers: Hazardous Gas Awareness, experts explain how just how deadly manure pit gases are and the dangers they pose to barn workers. The complementary fact sheet, Manure Storage Pit Dangers: Identifying Hazardous Gases, also serves as a valuable resource to help implement safety protocols.
The gases that are released during decomposition and agitation of swine manure can create special safety concerns, but you can protect the health of your employees, your livestock and yourself with some simple precautions.
An Industry-wide Issue
“It’s important to provide an environment that encourages safety awareness and compliance,” said Dr. Todd See, a professor and an Extension swine commodity coordinator at North Carolina State University. “You can minimize accidents by taking a proactive approach to safety.”
Dr. See offers the following safety tips:
- Do not enter an area in which hazardous levels of toxic gasses are suspected. Dilute toxic gases by maintaining proper ventilation and bringing fresh air into the contaminated area using fans and opening curtains, doors and windows.
- Wear a respirator or dust mask while performing work anywhere you may be exposed to harmful dusts, gases or sprays. Respirators and dust masks help block the entry of harmful gases and dust into the lungs.
- Protect yourself with a supplied-air respirator, either an air-line respirator or self-contained breathing apparatus, if it’s necessary to enter an area in which hazardous levels of a toxic gas are suspected or you must enter a confined space such as a manure pit.
- Realize that a number of gasses can create health issues for humans and hogs. Agitation of liquid manure that has been stored for more than a few weeks will release levels of gases that can be toxic, flammable and potentially lethal.
The Pork Checkoff’s Safe Manure Removal Practices fact sheet also offers great tips about the five main gases of concern in manure pits.
Source: PorkcheckOff