Grain safety program to provide training, increase awareness to reduce deaths

The federal government is offering up to $375,000 for a new program to reduce deaths and injuries related to grain-handling.

The money is to go toward training for producers and first responders, awareness programs for children and a mobile demonstration unit.

In 2015, three sisters from Alberta died after they became trapped and suffocated in a dense pile of tiny canola seeds in the family grain truck.

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Experts warn such grains can act like quicksand.

The safety program will be run by a non-profit group that includes representatives from the farming industry, producers and governments.

On average, 84 Canadians die each year in agriculture-related accidents a number that has dropped by about 20 since the 1990s.

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