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While Nationwide is well-known for its focus on grain bin safety, it was a different training that brought 154 people to four north central Ohio counties earlier this year.

Crawford, Marion, Morrow and Richland County Farm Bureaus hosted four manure pit safety and rescue training sessions where farmers and first responders learned critical information about the hazards of working around manure pits, the importance of air quality monitoring, and how to use body harnesses, life lines, and retrieval equipment.

“It was a new spin on confined-spaces training,” said Shelby Fire Department Chief Michael Thompson.

The training featured a one-of-a-kind manure pit rescue simulator developed through a partnership between Nationwide and the National Educational Center for Agricultural Safety. Firefighters and emergency personnel from 30 different departments learned about the hazards of confined space manure pits and how to safely conduct rescues of victims from these structures.

Instructor Dan Neenam stressed the importance of air-quality monitoring before, during and after rescues; the proper use of a self-contained breathing apparatus; harnessing; rope rigging
for below-grade rescues; and the use of a rescue tripod.

In 2021, brothers Gary, Todd, and Brad Wuebker, all in their 30s, lost consciousness and died while performing maintenance in a manure pit on a farm in Mercer County. This tragic event serves as a grim reminder of the serious dangers posed by confined spaces and hazardous gasses to those working in and around manure pits.

“Someone can try to help and that rescuer ends up being a victim, too,” Thompson said, noting that someone could be overwhelmed by the gasses coming from a manure pit before ever becoming submerged in one.

Hosting the training was a positive experience for Thompson, and from a first-responder standpoint, he encouraged any department to take the time to host the event.

“It was a good confined-space refresher,” he said. “The instructor was really super, very good, and everyone who took that course learned something.”

The simulator gives participants the opportunity to work through different scenarios in various roles.

The training was sponsored by various community partners. The training event also was recently selected for recognition as an American Farm Bureau Federation County Activities of Excellence program award winner.

Anyone interested in hosting a training in their area can learn more via the Manure Pit Safety & Rescue Training website.

Also, Nationwide’s annual Nominate Your Fire Department grain bin rescue tube and training contest begins Jan. 1, 2025. Learn more and enter online by April 30, 2025.