A good part of our career has been spent in ag-business/agribusiness operations, with a huge part of them being at feed mills- for both day and night shifts. This episode covers a few big ticket items that we routinely see. This list can help raise a red flag that there may be some significant risk that can lead to an injury on the horizon. We hope this helps!

Summary
In this episode of Safe, Efficient, Profitable, Joe and Jen break down mill safety risks. Core themes and topics discussed: housekeeping & dust control, bin cleanouts and confined space, alone-worker protocols & site security, auger/elevator hazards, and lockout/tagout realities. They emphasize seasonality (winter/ice, summer humidity, harvest chaos), contractor scheduling, and how documentation (permits) exposes program gaps.

Action Checklist (use on your next mill walkthrough)

Verify dust/housekeeping program- anything requiring contractors, coordinate to manage seasons & contractor/part lead times.

Spot-check bearings/heat and guard integrity at augers, hammer mills, headhouses etc

Review the last 5 confined space permits —do training, equipment, and rescue plans line up? If not, give us a call! www.allen-safety.com

Evaluate alone worker processes, check site security (fences, locks, access points near rail lines) and work in a plan to tighten things down where you're able.

Walk equipment that routinely must be cleaned out, troubleshooting is required, jams, etc and validate LOTO is correct- where to apply the lock, how and who is checking for power.

Safety Training and Training-Style Floor-Based Safety Audits/Evals: Allen-Safety.com
Online safety training: AllenSafetyCoaching.com

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SEO Keywords:

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Secondary (long-tail / intent-rich):

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bearing heat monitoring in mills

dust program

hammer mills

augers

feed mill safety checklist

safety for small crews

This video is intended for educational purposes. Solutions offered are not designed to take the place of an attorney or medical professional, and should not be taken as legal or medical advice. It is recommended that viewers consult a safety consultant, medical provider or an occupational safety legal team as applicable to help navigate their specific circumstances.

For educational purposes, videos may show the inside of manufacturing facilities, including meat and poultry production facilities, commercial farming, feed milling, and petrochemical facilities. Images shown may depict individual lines and show trained employees working in their daily jobs, however these visuals may not be suitable for all audiences. Specific job tasks shown are being completed by trained professionals, and should not be attempted without proper training and equipment under the supervision of a professional. Viewer discretion is advised.

Chemical safety: sounds straightforward, right? You’ve got your SDS, PPE, and eyewash stations. But what happens when your team mixes, sprays, or supercharges those chemicals in ways the manufacturer never imagined? With a CHMM on the mic, this is part coaching, part humor, and 100% actionable.

Key Takeaways –

1. The SDS might not be helpful based on how youre using the chemical.

• Reality check: Most Safety Data Sheets are written based on lab conditions and "intended use"—not how your sanitation team might be using them.
• Pro Tip: Ask yourself, “Was this SDS written by someone who’s ever worn PPE, on a harvest room floor, at 2 AM?” Maybe not.

2. Exposure Limits Are Great—If You Can Measure Them

• Common failure: SDS says “use respirator if above X ppm.” Great. Now… how are you measuring ppm in your facility?
• Real examples:
  • No meter for that specific chemical
  • Using outdated Dräger tubes that are non-specific

3. “More Isn’t Better”

• Scenario: You double the chemical strength during deep cleaning due to finding some "buggies." Now your PPE, risk profile, engineering controls—all need to change. Did they?
• Surprise consequences:
• Equipment degradation because the stronger solution wasn’t considered $$$
• PPE may not be adequate for the levels used

4. Training Misses the Human Factor

• You’ve trained on:
  • Where the SDS is
  • How to handle and/or mix
  • Which PPE to wear
• But you forgot to train on:
  • What happens when the goggles fog up
  • That instinctive move to scratch your eye with a gloved hand
  • Spraying above your head and having chemical rain down your back

5. Eyewash Stations: Functional on First Shift, ???? On Off Shifts

• Classic issue: “We check them every Monday at 9 AM.” But chemical use spikes on nights, weekends, and during deep cleans
• Also overlooked:
  • Eyewashes with scalding hot water
  • No eyewash where non-routine chemical usage occurs

Actionable Advice :

• Revisit every chemical on-site: How is it used, applied, stored, and disposed? Does that match the SDS?
• Evaluate your meters: Can you measure the chemical levels you're basing levels of PPE on?
• Update PPE assessments based on how chemicals are used
• Retrain your teams with realistic, scenario-based walk-throughs
• Audit all eyewash stations across all shifts, all departments, and all rarely used rooms

Final Words from Joe & Jen:

• We’re not saying you have these problems. We’re saying we’ve seen them—a lot.
• These gaps sneak in when paperwork replaces field observations.
• If you need help identifying these gaps, we do onsite audits, coaching, and training at AllenSafety.com and AllenSafetyCoaching.com.

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Welcome to the cage match no one talks about—but everyone in food and meat production lives through. This week, Joe and Jen are tackling the heavyweight showdown between two giants in every facility: Worker Safety vs. Food Safety. Who takes priority when things go sideways? Who gets to call the shots when it’s time to shut it all down? And most importantly—how do we keep from shutting down the whole operation when both teams are “just trying to do their job”?

If you’ve ever sat in a Thursday morning sanitation meeting and realized you now need PPE, a tie-off plan, confined space permits, and a miracle—this episode is for you. Joe and Jen don’t sugarcoat the chaos that can erupt when worker safety and food safety don’t align. Instead, they break it down and offer real-world, practical solutions that facilities can use right now to reduce friction, protect workers, and still keep compliant with every letter of the USDA, FDA, OSHA, and whatever other acronym is looming over your clipboard.

🧠 What You’ll Learn:
🥊 The Source of the Conflict
Why worker safety and food safety frequently butt heads, even though both are trying to “do the right thing”

How different regulatory agencies (OSHA vs USDA/FDA) create a confusing tug-of-war in decision-making

The emotional toll and operational cost of "shut it all down" moments when there's no clear prioritization

🔧 Tactical Takeaways (You Can Use Today)
How to create a shared 5-point conflict matrix between food safety and worker safety—before things go wrong

Identifying “hot zones” in your plant: Anywhere you have elevated work + sanitation + guarding + QA reps = Risk

Flashlight = red flag. What this simple tool tells you about potential violations and future downtime

Why Tuesday-Wednesday is when worker safety needs to be in the loop—not Friday morning at 7AM

How to conduct a 15-minute “risk walk” to spot top hazards without spending your whole shift doing audits

🧠 SEO Keywords (Built for Search Engines AND Humans):
Worker Safety vs Food Safety

Conflicts in Food Processing Facilities

Sanitation and Safety Alignment

Safety Risk Assessments in Manufacturing

Flashlight Confined Space Incidents

Food Safety Chemicals and PPE

Safety Planning for Food Plant Sanitation

Cross-Functional Safety Planning

FSQR and EHS Collaboration

Elevated Work and Fall Protection in Food Plants

Chemical Testing Safety Procedures

Risk Walk Safety Audits

How to Prioritize Safety in a Food Manufacturing Plant

🎁 Resources Mentioned:
✅ AllenSafety.com – For on-site coaching, plant assessments, and in-person training
✅ AllenSafetyCoaching.com – Free email coaching, 100+ exclusive commercial-free training videos, virtual courses, and support

🙏 Support the Podcast:
If you’ve ever dodged a falling flashlight, begged for a last-minute scissor lift, or gotten blindsided by a 7AM Thursday meeting, this podcast was made for you.

👍 Like, subscribe, and share with your safety/QA teams
📨 Submit your questions or conflict scenarios
💸 We don’t make money on this—but your clicks help us push content to the folks who really need it

This video is intended for educational purposes. Solutions offered are not designed to take the place of an attorney or medical professional, and should not be taken as legal or medical advice. It is recommended that viewers consult a safety consultant, medical provider or an occupational safety legal team as applicable to help navigate their specific circumstances.