Fines continue to be slashed in grain-bin deaths

Alex T. Paschal/Sauk Valley Newspapers photo

Fines for 60 percent of the 179 deaths caused by grain entrapment since 1984 were cut, often hugely, report Howard Berkes of NPR and Jim Morris of the Center for Public Integrity in a series that will continue. "More than $9 million in initial fines were slashed nearly 60 percent. The five biggest fines ever in grain death cases were cut from 50 percent to 97 percent. Department of Labor criminal referral records show that criminal prosecutions are rare in grain deaths."

Ron Hayes, who became a grain-bin-safety activist after his 19-year-old son suffocated in a grain bin in Florida in 1993, told NPR: "If this was the first time that this had ever happened in this country, I could see leniency. But because this happens time and time again, year after year after year, they should pay the full fines, somebody should be prosecuted, and until we do this, until OSHA has the backbone to stand up to do this, we will never see this stop." (Read more)