b'THE OFFICIAL NFBA MAGAZINEcontinued from page: 193. Facility design appears to make a difference.Of the facility failures reported, only one reported the farm structure was designed by a structural engineer and included a plan with an engineers stamp.See Table 1 on page 19RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY4. Anecdotal evidence from one-on-one conversations and two group meetings indicated that lenders feel barn failures are an insurance issue.Insurance companies did not indicate that the losses were a major concern.Many farmers, lenders and insurance representatives assume (incorrectly) that if aWhat can be Done?quality builder is used for their project, the structure itself will be designed and certifiedIn this section, I ask what can be done beyond by a structural engineer. regulating all farm structures.5. Safety Issues:To this point, there are fewMandatory Structural Design:reports of injuries or deaths due to farm structural failures, however. I understand that requiring all farm structures to be reviewed and be designed by a structural In 2019, one farmer fell through a skylight ondesign engineer would ultimately make structures the barn roof while removing snow from thesafer, but at what cost?I have heard about roof (to prevent a possible failure) and dieddelays in projects, high cost for reviews, lack of from the fall. inspection or enforcement, etc. but maybe this In 2010, a father and son, were injured andis the only answer.hospitalized when more than 50% of theirIncentive Programs:barn collapsed due to unbalanced load on theCurrently, there has been limited success using an roof.(Dr. David Bohnhoff determined it wasincentive program to lower insurance premiums progressive collapse due to poor design) or improve financing terms for structurally 235 cows died or were euthanized in 2019engineered farm buildings.Such programs have due to barn failures along with over 4,000been tried in Minnesota, but the practice does sows, in Buffalo County.Additionally, annot appear to be gaining widespread adoption.undetermined number of livestock wereQuestions begging for an Educated Response: culled prematurely due to injury. Modern livestock farms have people workingMany farmers assume their builders are using a in them many hours per day, increasing thestructurally engineered design.They also assume risks that human injuries may result if farma building is designed by a structural engineer structures fail. if it is built with engineered trusses.These 20 / FRAME BUILDER -JUN2021'