WELD COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — An expert on agriculture safety says incidents like the one that claimed the lives of six people at a Weld County dairy farm this week are not uncommon in the industry.
David Douphrate, a member of CSU’s High Plains Intermountain Center for Agriculture Health and Safety and current professor at Texas A&M University, understands better than most just how dangerous farming can be.
“Agriculture, forestry and fishing has the highest fatality rate among all industrial sectors,” Douphrate said.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 2016 and 2020, the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting industry saw just shy of 3,000 total fatal accidents on the job. Douphrate says among livestock farms, many of those accidents involve hydrogen sulfide, but six deaths at once is something he’s never seen before.
“That was a shock,” he said.
Douphrate says as manure decomposes, it emits that gas, which is colorless, has a rotten egg smell and is severely toxic at high concentrations.
“I think that a worker can succumb to that pretty quickly, within a couple of breaths,” Douphrate said.
To help combat the dangers, Douphrate says the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has safety requirements in place for confined spaces where hydrogen sulfide is present.
“You have to test the atmosphere for any toxic gases, you have to make sure that the worker has an adequate oxygen supply line,” Douphrate said.
He says farms are required to be in control of other safety concerns besides gas in these spaces as well, like moving machinery or electrical hazards. While Douphrate doesn’t want to speculate on exactly how the deaths occurred while the investigation continues, he says raising awareness for any farm-related incident is always important.
“These are dangerous work environments that these workers need to be protected,” he said.
The Weld County Coroner’s Office says autopsies have been completed on all six victims, but further testing is needed before determining the full cause of death.
Anthony Sutton is a business strategist and writer with a passion for management, leadership, and entrepreneurship. With years of experience in the corporate world, he shares insights on business growth, strategy, and innovation through management-opleiding.org.
