Safety Violations found at Elevator;
New fatality at Saline Facility
The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) completed their investigation into the death of Gregrey Halow, 49, of Dundee at the Britton Elevator on September 7. Mr. Harlow perished in an accident involving an auger in the elevator bin. It was found that John Marion Inc. which owns the Britton Elevator along with several others, had three serious violations and were fined $1,000 each for them.

The violations included lack of having an observer outside the bin, while Mr. Harlow was inside, lack of training on the auger system by employees, and lack of training of the employees on rescue procedures at the bin. Proper procedures were also not followed in the bin in which the equiptment should have been shut off before entry.

MIOSHA’s report states that all violations must be corrected by Nov. 25 of this year.

In an unrelated incident, John Marion, 69, of Tecumseh, died Thursday, Nov. 4 when he became trapped inside a storage bin at the John Marion Grain Elevator, 9317 W. Michigan Ave., in Saline Township.

Mr. Marion, whose family also owns grain elevators in Dundee and Britton, was the owner of the elevator where the accident occurred. According to a witness, Marion was attempting to remove a plate used to direct the flow of the corn through the elevator when he fell into the storage bin and was buried in corn.

For a short time, the trapped man was able to communicate, but workers were not able to reach him. An employee called 911.

Saline Fire Department Chief Craig Hoeft estimated that the department responded to the call and arrived on scene within four minutes. By that time, Marion was no longer responding.

His position at the bottom of the gravity feed storage bin made locating him difficult, and when responders were unable to see him from the top of the bin, they cut through the sides hoping to reach him in time.

Some 35 minutes later, his body was recovered, and Marion was pronounced dead at the scene; state police investigating the accident listed suffocation as the preliminary cause of death.

The incident at the John Marion Grain Elevator in Saline will not be investigated because, said Eva Hatt, Safety and Health Manager for MIOSHA, because there is no employer/employee relationship involved in the accident.