Iowa father, son die in hog manure pit after being overcome by noxious fumes

[Liberal_in_LA]

Source: my daily news



Gene Opheim, 58, tried to save his 32-year-old son Austin Opheim by carrying him out of the pit, but both died after becoming overcome by the poisonous gases, family and law enforcement officials said.

&quot Gene) was carrying Austin on his back and bringing him up and he got almost to the top and he got overcome, and down they went," a relative told the Des Moines Register.

The tragic accident occurred Saturday on the family's farm in Cylinder, Iowa, while the two were making repairs, the Palo Alto County Sheriff's Office said.

They were fixing a pump at a hog confinement when a piece of equipment fell into the pit, Gene Opheim's sister Barb Wempen told the Register.

The younger Opheim went into the pit to try to retrieve the equipment but was overcome by fumes. His father jumped in to rescue him, but both were submerged, Wempen and authorities said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/iowa-father-son-killed-noxious-fumes-hog-manure-pit-article-1.2308284

[KamaAina]

1. Iowa, you say?

How many of the clown car occupants were in Cylinder spewing those noxious fumes?

[philosslayer]

17. You're a real hoot

Does the death of two hard-working farmers under tragic circumstances always make you crack jokes? I'd alert, but sometimes public shaming is more appropriate.

[MBS]

18. . . . . .. n/t

[KamaAina]

39. It's known as "gallows humor"

In any case, it's hardly LBN, i.e. a story of national interest.

[Telcontar]

30. Wow

...just...wow

I think you should delete that remark

[Major Nikon]

2. Unfortunately this is not the first time this has happened

Very sad for all involved.

[TwilightGardener]

4. No, this happened to two brothers on a hog operation in Iowa about 10 years ago.

Almost identical circumstances--one family member tries to save the other and also succumbs to the fumes. Awful way to go.

[Major Nikon]

8. 3 family members died in 2012

http://extension.psu.edu/business/ag-safety/news/2012/3-pa-family-members-die-in-manure-pit-in-md

This happens all over the world fairly regularly. The CDC and OSHA both have warnings about it. People just don't understand the risks of confined spaces and the dangerous gases that can accumulate. What makes it really sad is the information is out there if it were just publicized more widely this might happen less.

[LiberalElite]

13. There should be some way

they can retrieve the equipment or whatever falls into the pit without going into it themselves.

[Major Nikon]

14. There's other ways to stay safe

Fans can blow out dangerous gases and monitors are sold that can detect multiple types of gases for safe levels. When you see people working in manholes beside the road, that's what they are doing.

[Liberal_in_LA]

15. maybe they only go in with oxygen mask

[valerief]

33. Not breeding hogs is a start. nt

[Rebubula]

35. So...they deserved this?

People die a horrible death and this is what you come up with?

Very pithy and righteous - well done

[chernabog]

36. All the pigs they kill

have a much worse life and much worse death. I'm sure they have killed tens of thousands at least. Not saying they deserved to die, just pointing out what they have done.

[valerief]

41. When people (paid to or otherwise) put words in my mouth, they go straight to Ignored Forever! nt

[Telcontar]

31. NASA lost four engineers inspecting the external tank a few years ago

Pressure test with Nitrogen. Didn't let enough time pass before inspectors entered. Two dropped dead. Two more outside went in to get them, they died too.

[2naSalit]

3. Yikes.

That's awful!

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

5. RIP Gene and Austin Opheim

What a shitty way to die.

[A Simple Game]

6. There should be some state agency that could provide

vessel and confined space entry procedures, training, and at cost equipment.

A one hour course would be sufficient.

[Lochloosa]

10. OSHA had 10 hour course that includes confined space safety.

I've taken it.

[AngryAmish]

29. Me and a buddy came real close to buying it in a pit

Worked in a factory, had to clean out a pit that had old junk thrown in it for fifty years. One of the items was an old refrigerator, the type with the beehive compressor on top. It was too heavy to heave out so I had the bright idea to take off the compressor...cut the freon lines...freon leaked and displaced the atmosphere in the pit. My buddy got me out but barely. Very weird experience, suffocating while breathing.

[hunter]

42. Some of those old refrigerators used sulfur dioxide or methyl formate...

... both much nastier than Freon. Both are toxic, burning the eyes and such, and methyl formate is flammable too.

One has to be careful with antique refrigerators. Air displacement is not the only danger.

[Scruffy1]

43. You are right on.

I too have had a lot of training and experience with confined spaces and refrigerants. Those old absorption units are very hazardous.
I have seen this scenario several times when one person goes in to help another. Sulfur dioxide becomes odorless a high concentrations so it can not be detected by smell.

[Recursion]

21. Any Extension program will have a class like that

People have to take it for it to do any good, though.

[Trajan]

7. I would not jump into such a pit for a piece of equipment

Very sad .. . I wonder how much that equipment cost? ... I'm sure the family would pay 1000 times that amount to have their family members alive ...

[magical thyme]

9. one of the dangers of factory farming. nt

[restorefreedom]

20. of the many. nt

[chernabog]

11. This could easily be avoided

If there were no mass killing of intelligent beings.
Not to mention the poor people who have to live next to these pits are constantly getting sick.

[restorefreedom]

19. this....nt

[JudyM]

40. And the methane's impact on global warming is worse than the impact of cars... Nt

[slumcamper]

12. As an Iowan who grew up on farms (we were renters)--

and who as a teen worked in hog farrowing houses I am well aware of the methanous toxicity of manure and pits. Grain bins are equally as dangerous--for other reasons--and I lost neighbors in them, as well. Ufortunately, the powerful Farm Bureau and allied conservative interests in the state legislature collude in an incessant effort to eliminate regulation of these hazards. Even a requirement so meagre as a warning sticker is an affront to their perception of liberty ("freedom to farm&quot . Sadly, the cost of their success is counted in more and more lost lives.

Having felt this loss personally, I maintain that state government in Iowa should regulate these to the fullest extent possible. A corporate farmer's inconvenience is a fair price to pay for saving lives.

[malokvale77]

16. This is what happens when states shun regulations.

Were these lives worth the money save?

[Recursion]

22. What regulation would have prevented this? (nt)

[malokvale77]

24. I don't know...

My SO just told told me that his days working on a hog farm would never have allowed someone to go into a "methane pit".

I grew up a mile from a hog farm. No one ever died from going into a "methane pit".

Maybe regulations had nothing to do with it. Maybe it was about not being stupid.

Regulations keep people from forcing others to do stupid things.

Have it however you want Recursion. Regulations could have kept 2 people from dieing in a methane pit.

[Recursion]

25. I'm pretty sure nobody is "allowed" to go into methane pits today

But the son did.

[malokvale77]

27. and the father right after. (nt)

[Telcontar]

32. A natural and understandable response to seeing one's son go down

Rational thought probably flew out the window

[murielm99]

23. These types of accidents have been going on

for years. They happened when my father was a kid in the 1930's. People die in grain bins and elevators, too. A couple of teenagers died in our area last summer. Before that, an older farmer was crushed by a large round bale that was not secured properly. He had farmed for fifty years.

Farming is a dangerous occupation. It amazes me how uninformed people chime in when they know nothing about agriculture related jobs.

I am saddened by this loss of life. I wish it had not happened.

[malokvale77]

26. Both my parents grew up on farms...

I understand the difference in taking personal risk and asking others to take the risk.

Hell yes, farming is dangerous. Descending into a methane pit is just stupid. The toxic fumes will overwhelm you quickly.

[pansypoo53219]

28. those poop pits are evil. WTF has farming come to.

[Sunlei]

34. all that free energy, gas..to bad these factory farms will not progress past the deathpit stage.

farming is a very dangerous job. Not just the machinery tearing people to pieces or animals difficult to handle they kill some people.

Pits of manure/urine sitting open have grown in size & stink from the 1800s along with the number of animals tight packed for ' 'increased profits'.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

37. OSHA Enforcement Exemptions; Iowa State University Extension Courses

Enforcement Exemptions and Limitations under the Appropriations Act

Table 1 (Exceptions and Limitations)
X. Enforcement Guidance for Small Farming Operations
....

X. Enforcement Guidance for Small Farming Operations. The Appropriations Act exempts small farming operations from enforcement of all rules, regulations, standards or orders under the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

A. A farming operation is exempt from all OSHA activities if it:
1. Employs 10 or fewer employees currently and at all times during the last 12 months; and
2. Has not had an active temporary labor camp during the proceeding 12 months.

As an earlier posted said, there are extension courses.

Iowa State University Extension’s Safe Farm home page

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering

Agricultural Health & Safety

Welcome to the Iowa State University Extension’s Safe Farm home page. From here you will find information about:

{snip}

Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, 1340 Elings Hall, Ames, IA 50011-3270, 515-294-1434, [e-mail]

This story is mentioned at that site.

Andersen comments on the danger of manure pit fumes

July 29, 2015 By dwoolley

A father and his son who were so close that they were “like glue” were killed Saturday by noxious fumes from a northwest Iowa hog manure pit — the second father and son in the Midwest to die of poisonous manure pit gases this month.

It takes just a few seconds for routine maintenance work in a pig barn to turn deadly, said Daniel Andersen, an assistant professor of agricultural engineering at Iowa State University.

It’s hydrogen sulfide that can be the deadliest of the gases created when manure decomposes — along with methane, ammonia and carbon dioxide, Andersen said.

For the original Des Moines Register Story, click here.

College of Engineering, 104 Marston Hall, Ames, IA 50011, [e-mail]

Iowa father, son die from manure pit fumes

Grant Rodgers and Donnelle Eller 9:16 a.m. CDT July 30, 2015

....
Deadly in seconds

It takes just a few seconds for routine maintenance work in a pig barn to turn deadly, said Daniel Andersen, a water quality and manure management professor at Iowa State University. ... It’s hydrogen sulfide that can be the deadliest of the gases created when manure decomposes — along with methane, ammonia and carbon dioxide, Andersen said.

Large ventilation fans and curtains are used to help ensure the air is safe for people and animals in a pig barn. ... But farmers can run into trouble when doing maintenance work below the slats — or in pump pit areas, where the manure is accessed to fertilize farm fields.

“When you’re working in the animal environment, you’re relatively safe,” Andersen said. “But whenever you’re working below the slats — or where manure is being disturbed — that can be highly dangerous. ... “Typically, we try to avoid going into the manure pits at all cost for this very reasons,” he said.

Something as simple as dropping equipment in the manure can send bubbles of hydrogen sulfide into the air. It’s especially a problem when people are in confined spaces. ... “When something breaks the surface of the manure or if the person is in the manure, moving around, that causes more hydrogen sulfide to come out of the manure,” Andersen said. “That can cause unconsciousness and untimely death.”

[left-of-center2012]

38. From the linked article

"This is the second time this month that a father and son in the Midwest died from noxious manure pit gases, according to the Register."