The AgriTrust of Georgia and the Southeastern Cotton Ginners Association again put on two Ginners Safety Round Tables. This year the sessions were held at the Heart of Georgia Gin in Hawkinsville and Sconyers Gin in Sycamore.
Topics covered in this year’s Round Tables included Fork Lift and Warehouse demonstrations by MacKinnon Equipment Services, Personal Protective Equipment by Josh White with the AgriTrust, Maintenance and Off-Season Repair safety led by Jackson Hammack (Early County Gin) at Hawkinsville and Lupe Alonzo (Mobley Gin) and Rick Riley (Sconyers Gin and Whse) at Sconyers, and two Lock-out Sessions with Kirby Bailey of Safe Workforce Development and Andy Knowlton of the Southeastern Cotton Ginners Association. Additionally, the managers were in a separate session dedicated to drug testing and management safety issues.
This year we had nearly 170 gin employees from about half of the gins in the state go through one of the two Round Tables. The idea of the gin safety round tables is to get gin leaders (shift supervisors, ginners, crew leaders) to hear and discuss safety topics among each other. While there were formal demonstrations, participants were encouraged to have dialogue with leaders to talk about real world experiences and start a discussion with each other.
Southeastern Cotton Ginners and The AgriTrust of Georgia would like to formally thank Jerry Davis and the staff at Heart of Georgia Gin, and Buck White, Rick Riley and the crew at Sconyers Gin and Warehouse for hosting the Round Tables this year. The Facilities were TOP NOTCH and there’s no way we could do these type of events without their cooperation.
Our next round table will be in Alabama at the Milstead Farm Group just before the Alabama Florida State Unit meeting on August 28th. More information and registration materials can be found Here.
The Ins