World Grain - April 2013 - 6

from the editor-in-chief

Realism needed
about grain handling

hile it’s not unusual for one sector
or another of grain-based foods to
be under public attack for one specious reason or another, the present-day assault on the safety of grain bin and grain elevator operations deserves a clear and certain
response, if not rebuttal. After all, the power
of the global grain industry depends on the
capacity, the efﬁciency and, yes, the safety
of grain storage operations. To have these
challenged as unsafe and even deserving of
criminal prosecution, as has been heard in
recent days, is almost the same as saying that
a food system essential to global survival is
a ﬁtting target in a world that disregards how
the basic food system works.
For whatever reason, the pace of assault
on alleged safety faults in grain storage and
elevator operations seems headed for a crescendo. Page one articles in several newspapers and extensive coverage in a series
running on public radio are the principal
features currently that differ in intensity
from previous outbreaks that usually concentrated on a single accident. Much of the
current coverage centers on tragic occurrences at American elevators where young
and often careless work has resulted in
disaster. Even though frequency does not
exceed the past, the media has chosen the
current period as if the industry is particularly vulnerable. No other reason for this attention has been identiﬁed. The only appar-

Chairman
Charles Sosland
Publisher/Managing Director Mark Cornwell
Director of Advertising Sales
Dan Flavin
EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor-in-Chief
Editor
Managing Editor
World-Grain.com Editor
European Editor
China Consultant
Designer

Morton I. Sosland
Arvin Donley
Meyer Sosland
Susan Reidy
Chris Lyddon
Fengcheng Wang
Ryan Alcantara

ent story basis is combining different events
into a feature ﬁring public attention. More
often than not, the article’s goal is casting
blame on the operator.
From the point of view of this observer
and the long experience of keenly watching how the grain industry and its companies have responded to these incidents, the
current innuendos and sometimes outright
demands for criminal pursuit are beyond
the pale. Recognizing the hazards of large
accumulations of grain, and the dust that is
an integral part of this operation, may only
lead any responsible person to be aware of
the need for extreme safety measures. Firsthand observation of how individual executives behave and how companies operating
these facilities place safety at the forefront,
often at high cost to the business, provides
convincing rebuttal to those who charge
or infer that the grain elevator business is
fraught with disregard for the well-being of
individual workers.
No food sector has perhaps more safety
challenges than the grain storage business,
largely because of grain dust issues, but it
is also true that no sector has devoted more
time and resources than this one to preventing mishaps or awful events like cataclysmic
explosions that the news media has attempted to describe as commonplace. Individual
companies have not just named safety executives with responsibility for individual

units as well as across entire globe-circling
companies, but industry-wide associations
have taken the lead in not just developing
training courses and procedures but in suggesting participation as the basis for membership. Along the same line, no company
has ever been described as avoiding safety
issues, and more than a few have selected
leading executives to spend years in pursuit
of the most stringent safety activities. It is a
matter that has been accorded a huge amount
of resources, and it’s dead wrong to imply
that this is not the case.
Faced with the current barrage of misinformation and apparent allegations of violating safety regulations and even laws, the
grain industry has a massive problem of how
best to respond. Yes, accidents have happened, but there’s no proof that the number
is unusually large or that the outcome is due
to company or executive negligence. Considering the hazards with which the grain
storage and handling industry must deal
with on a continuing basis and considering
just how this very same industry stands as
the central core of an amazing worldwide
food processing and delivery system, how
much better it would be to recognize what
has been achieved with relatively rare human catastrophe.

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WORLD GRAIN (ISSN 0745-8991) Volume 31, issue 4,
is published monthly by Sosland Publishing Co.,
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Morton I. Sosland
Editor-in-chief

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April 2013 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

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World Grain - April 2013

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