Man rescued from silo filled with fertiliser in rural Queensland
The man, believed to be in his 80s, fell into the silo of urea at Eurombah, north of Roma, about 500 kilometres north-west of Brisbane on Sunday.
A Queensland Fire Department spokeswoman said six crews, including the vertical rescue team and confined space crew, arrived at the site just before 3pm, about 90 minutes after the alarm was raised.
"They found a person inside a silo, the vertical rescue team went down on their harness to extricate the person," she said.
It took more than two hours for the crews to free the man, as the teams worked to remove the highly concentrated nitrogen fertiliser with buckets.
Once free, the man was flown by helicopter to Roma Hospital in a stable condition after being treated by paramedics at the scene.
Workplace Health and Safety Queensland and Roma Hospital have been contacted for comment.
Days earlier, Queensland Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie spoke about farm safety while visiting FarmFest in Toowoomba.
Mr Bleijie said it was essential for farmers to be aware of their safety at work.
"We know that in Queensland, unfortunately, agriculture is one of the highest risks for workplace health and safety incidents," he said.
Mr Bleijie said the goal was always for people to go to work in the morning and return home safely to their families at the end of the day.
"But ultimately it comes down to individual responsibility as well and the more people hear about being conscious about farm safety and safety at the workplace, the safer everyone will be."
Condamine MP Pat Weir said farming accidents happened too often, and urged farmers to keep safety front of mind.
"I have attended the funerals of people that I grew up with and went to school with, that have been killed in farm accidents," he said.
The state government has launched a farm safety calendar competition to raise awareness around potential safety hazards on farms and throughout rural communities.
"I have been taken to hospital in an ambulance myself from an accident on a farm, so I know at first hand this [farm safety] calendar goes through the various issues that farmers deal with — whether it's dealing with livestock, whether it's electricity, whether it's floods, there's a machinery, machinery is a very unforgiving," Mr Weir said.
"There are a lot of issues when you are farming, so to put the focus on farm safety is something that I support whole."
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