OSHA fines Nebraska grain cooperative $536,000
- September 9, 2025
- Posted by: Web workers
- Category: Workers Comp
U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigators found “life-threatening hazards” at a Hemingford, Nebraska, grain elevator, leading to $536,000 in proposed penalties.
OSHA said Thursday that workers at the Legacy Cooperative elevator faced risks of fire and explosion due to the cooperative’s allowing a buildup of combustible dust and failing to maintain effective dust-collection systems.
The agency responded to a complaint of unsafe working conditions at the elevator and opened its inspection in March 2024. Investigators found 22 “serious” violations, two of which were classified as “willful.”
Investigators said the cooperative permitted more than one-eighth on an inch of grain dust to accumulate in priority housekeeping areas, such as in the bottom belt tunnel and around the elevator legs.
They also found duct tape wrapped around the dust-collection system in a makeshift attempt to repair it. This reduced the system’s efficiency and increased its vulnerability to failure, OSHA said.
The cooperative has 15 days to contest the findings.
