Purdue: U.S. farm entrapments fall to lowest level in decade

A new Purdue University study says grain-bin entrapments and other confined-space accidents on the nation's farms fell to their lowest level in a decade last year.

Purdue's study shows the U.S. had 47 entrapments in grain bins and other confined spaces in 2015. That's 34 percent fewer than 2014's 71 entrapments and the fewest since 46 were recorded in 2006.

Purdue said 25 people died last year in entrapments, down from 31 in 2014.

But Bill Field, a Purdue professor of agricultural safety and health, said many nonfatal entrapments go unreported each year because there's no mandatory national reporting system.

Entrapments were reported in 13 states last year, mostly in the Midwest. Iowa led the nation with seven incidents. Nebraska had four, North Carolina and Ohio had two each, and single cases were reported in Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky and Connecticut.