🗞️ Grain Bin, Grave Risk: Federal Investigators Cite Illinois Alliance Grain After Worker Injured by Unguarded Conveyor

On February 24, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced enforcement action against Alliance Grain Co. of Gibson City, Illinois, following a workplace injury in which a seasonal laborer stepped through an unguarded sump hole and onto a moving paddle-style unloading conveyor inside a grain bin, resulting in a serious foot injury.

OSHA's subsequent inspection produced six citations: two willful, one serious, and three other-than-serious. The willful citations — the agency's most severe classification, reserved for employers who knowingly disregard safety obligations or display plain indifference to hazards — covered the failure to implement lockout/tagout (LOTO) procedures and the failure to guard sump holes against worker contact with moving machinery. The remaining citations addressed the employer's failure to issue bin entry permits prior to entry, station an outside observer during entry, test the bin's atmosphere before workers entered, and provide required grain handling safety training to employees.

The cited violations implicate 29 CFR 1910.272, OSHA's Grain Handling Facilities Standard, which has been in effect since March 30, 1988. The standard requires employers to deenergize and lock out all mechanical equipment presenting a danger to workers inside grain storage structures, issue an entry certification permit confirming that required precautions have been implemented before entry, test the internal atmosphere for oxygen levels and combustible gases, and maintain an outside observer during entry. The citations issued in this case span multiple distinct requirements of the standard.

The agency proposed $276,407 in penalties. Alliance Grain Co. has 15 business days from receipt of its citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC).

The bin entry hazards at issue in this case are among the specific risk categories the standard was designed to address. OSHA's 2003 regulatory review of 29 CFR 1910.272 found that the Grain Handling Facilities Standard had reduced injuries by 55%, reduced deaths from grain explosions by 70%, and reduced deaths from grain suffocations by 44% since taking effect. The Alliance Grain Co. enforcement action reflects the type of bin entry scenario — involving engulfment risk, unguarded mechanical equipment, and missing entry controls — that the standard's grain suffocation and bin entry provisions were specifically promulgated to prevent.

Key Points

• A seasonal laborer at Alliance Grain Co. in Gibson City, IL suffered a serious foot injury after stepping through an unguarded sump hole onto an active paddle conveyor during grain bin entry.
• OSHA issued six citations total: two willful (lockout/tagout failure; unguarded sump holes), one serious, and three other-than-serious. Cited violations collectively included: no bin entry permits, no outside observer, no pre-entry atmosphere testing, and no grain handling safety training for employees. The primary source does not specify which citation level corresponds to each individual violation.
• Willful citations indicate the employer knew of — or was plainly indifferent to — the hazards, exposing Alliance Grain Co. to the agency's highest penalty tier.
• OSHA proposed $276,407 in penalties; the company has 15 business days to comply, request an informal conference, or contest before OSHRC.
• The violations directly implicate 29 CFR 1910.272, OSHA's grain handling facilities standard, which has been in effect since 1988 and covers bin entry permits, LOTO, atmosphere testing, and worker training.

Primary Source Author: U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Primary Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Primary Source Link: https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/osha/osha20260224

Supplemental Links

• 29 CFR 1910.272 – Grain Handling Facilities Standard (eCFR)
• OSHA Grain Handling Safety
• OSHA Lockout/Tagout eTool
• OSHA Machine Guarding Standards
• 29 CFR 1910.147 – Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout)
• OSHA Grain Handling Facilities Standard Regulatory Review (2003)
• OSHA CPL 02-01-004 – Grain Handling Inspection Directive
• Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC)