It’s that time of year. Everyone is geting into the swing of things and most gins are running 24 hrs if they are going to and it’s also the time that we see the most serious accidents. We have had a couple serious injuries in our region and I just received an alert from Texas.

Please take some time to review your safety procedures. Look at employee practices. Are they doing what they’ve been trained to do? Are shortcuts being taken? As it gets colder do employees put gloves on in areas that gloves aren’t allowed?

In our region we’ve had a couple serious lint cleaner accidents in both the saws and the rollers. Both could have been much worse but neither should have happened. The safety alert from Texas noted lift truck drivers being injured in various ways. The most common has been where a truck was getting loaded and the driver pulled the truck away before the lift truck driver was done loading the truck. These resulted in the forklift falling from the dock or truck. Two incidents involved lift trucks running into things and the driver hit the steering wheel. None of these accidents resulted in a fatality but certainly coud have.

Go over you lift truck procedures and review these incidents with your drivers. Make sure they are wearing their seat belts and are operating their machine in a safe manner.

As we move from October into November, we’re in what has seemed to be the most dangerous time of year in the Southeast. We seem to have more serious (and fatal) accidents between now and the middle of November than any other time of the gin season. Please take a few minutes and have a safety meeting to go over things that may need improvement. The Gin Safety Reference Manual has numerous safety meeting topics. We hope you are doing regular meetings but even if you’re not, take a few minutes to stress safety at the next couple of shift changes. Your attitude toward safety will be reflected in the employees (whether you recognize it or not).

Don’t hesitate to call if you have any questions. We’re here to help.

Have a safe gin season.

Dusty and Barry