Entry Level Safety

Scott Biel serves as Director of Safety at Mid Kansas Cooperative (MKC). He and his team are responsible for regulatory compliance, employee safety training, and maintaining safe working environments across MKC facilities. Scott is actively involved in industry education efforts and serves on both the GEAPS Education Planning Committee and the GEAPS Education and Training Committee, supporting the development of learning resources that strengthen safety and operational practices across the grain industry.

Ryan Brooks serves as Safety Director at The DeLong Company, Inc., where he leads the development, implementation, and management of workplace health and safety policies and procedures. His role includes conducting safety inspections and audits, evaluating regulatory compliance, coordinating annual employee safety training, and establishing SMART goal initiatives designed to reduce risk and prevent accidents across the organization. Ryan brings 18 years of experience in the agriculture industry, with the past seven years focused specifically on safety leadership. He is an active member of the Wisconsin Agri-Business Association Safety Committee, contributing insight and direction to support industry-wide safety programming. His professional expertise includes facility audits and food safety systems. Ryan is a Certified Safety Professional (CSP) through the Board of Certified Safety Professionals and has completed the OSHA 30-Hour Compliance Course. He also holds certifications in Implementing SQF Systems Training (SGS) and HACCP (Kansas State University). Ryan earned a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science with Business Administration from Aurora University.

Dr. Carol Jones, PE joined the Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering faculty at Oklahoma State University in 2002 following an extensive career in production agriculture and materials handling design. She recently retired from her full-time professorship and now serves as an instructor with OSU’s Fire Service Training Grain Entrapment Rescue program. Dr. Jones is the owner of CL Jones Consulting LLC, where she provides grain handling and storage engineering, training, and forensic services. Her career combines academic expertise, industry experience, and hands-on training focused on improving safety and performance in grain handling and storage operations.

Beth Locken serves as Sr. EHSS, DOT Director at Wilbur-Ellis. She brings more than 18 years of experience in the safety and environmental field, including 14 years focused specifically on the grain, agronomy, and energy industries. Beth has specialized expertise in confined space entry and has served on Agtegra Cooperative’s High Angle Rope Rescue Team, supporting local emergency response efforts during grain bin entrapment incidents. With a strong belief that employees and customers are at the center of safe operations, Beth and her team have dedicated significant effort to educating farmers and member-owners on safe work practices, the reasons behind safety requirements, and how to make safety personal and meaningful. She has been a GEAPS member for 10 years and has served on both the Education Planning Committee and the Membership Committee.

Butch Hendrix serves as Corporate Safety Director for Kokomo Grain Co., Inc. He has decades of experience in safety leadership across a wide range of roles, including crane operator, welder, general utility worker, global EHS auditor, contractor and construction safety lead, and serious injury and fatality investigator. Hendrix studied Criminal Justice and Fire Sciences at the University of Illinois and has completed numerous OSHA courses. In addition to his corporate safety role, he is a trainer with the Grain Handling Safety Coalition and has served as a volunteer fire chief for more than a decade. His extensive emergency response background includes serving as a Haz-WOPER incident commander and trainer, DOT hazardous materials trainer, police officer, technical rescue specialist and trainer, and high-angle, confined space, and grain bin rescue team leader and trainer in industrial, urban, and wilderness environments. He has also contributed to the development of agricultural rescue and response standards in Illinois and Indiana.