Editor’s note: This is part three of a three-part series on a grain bin fall, a miraculous recovery and advice from a Firth, Neb., farmer who fell 40 feet from the top of a grain bin and lived to tell the tale. Read parts one and two of this story.

Slow down and watch your step. Install safety cages around grain bin ladders. Be careful.

That’s it. That’s the advice from Firth, Neb., farmer Rodney TeKolste, who fell 40 feet from the top of a grain bin in 2019 and lived to talk about it. He is what his family calls a miracle man.

His advice sounds so simple, but farmers who are hurrying to complete harvest on time and get grain safely in the bin are hard-pressed to follow this advice. If that’s the case, TeKolste’s daughter, Brooke Loutzenhiser, has some chilling messages for you.

“My dad had multiple back fractures, 2 millimeters short of paralyzing him from the waist down,” Loutzenhiser says. “You never think it’ll happen to you. My dad was 65 years old at the time of the fall and in amazing shape, but it only takes a small slip.”

The TeKolste family advises putting a safety harness on and making sure to let someone know where you are going if you are working alone.

ALL SMILES: Today, TeKolste continues to farm with his son Taylor, but the family has installed safety equipment around grain bin ladders on their farm to prevent another tragic accident from happening. (Brooke Loutzenhiser)

“Your loved ones will be grateful you did,” Loutzenhiser adds. “After my dad was recovering at home, my brother helped keep the farm going. He put safety cages on their grain bins after the accident, so safety now is a priority.”

Related:A grain bin fall and the miracle man

Listen to the experts

Aaron Yoder, University of Nebraska Medical Center associate professor of environmental, agricultural and occupational health with the Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health (CS-CASH), says in his ladder safety report that the average person takes more than 5,000 steps a day, 35,000 steps a week and 1.8 million steps in a year, so there is a perception of low risk for something we do all the time.

But here’s the wake-up call.

If you are falling, Yoder says, you will fall 64 feet in just two seconds, and your average reaction time is between a half and three-quarters of a second. You would have fallen several feet in that amount of time. You can’t catch yourself from a fall, as we like to think.

TeKolste fell 40 feet, so it took him only 1.25 seconds to fall that far and strike the ground.

LONG ROAD: Rodney TeKolste had a long road of physical therapy after his grain bin accident, which included hours upon hour of rehab at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, after a full recovery, TeKolste hopes to remind farmers to take their time, install safety equipment around their bins and be careful this harvest season. (Brooke Loutzenhiser)

A 200-pound person falling 6 feet hits the ground with at least 10,000 pounds of force. That’s why TeKolste, although he landed on his feet and did not injure his head, was demolished by his fall of 40 feet from a grain bin.

Yoder also talks about the contributing hazards in climbing ladders in general that include eyesight and visual perception, fatigue, stress, anxiety and depression, age, health and illness, and other physical limitations and injuries.

Related:A grain bin fall and a long road to recovery

Environmental causes contributing to falls include poor lighting and shadows, too much light and glare, noise that is unexpected, excess temperatures, humidity or condensation, not enough width to the stairs or ladder, lack of anti-slip flooring and bulky clothing, along with the obvious of rain, snow, mud or ice.

“It still brings me to tears to even think about that day,” Loutzenhiser says about the day her father fell from the grain bin. “I just sat down at his bedside on my knees and started praying he would make it through.”

Those prayers eventually were answered, and TeKolste did make it. But he is a miracle man in many ways. And he wants farmers to take heed of the message, take safety precautions, install safety equipment and measures, and learn from his horrific experiences.

Learn more grain bin and ladder safety tips online at unmc.edu/publichealth/cscash. Watch nebraskafarmer.com for monthly farm safety columns called “For the Health of It” in both English and Spanish.