Texas Cotton Ginners’ Association Cotton Gin Safety Program Acknowledgments

This online version of the safety program would not have been possible without the expertise and efforts of David Oefinger. Many thanks to David for updating the format of our program, and for making the many changes needed to bring this program up to date. Thank you also to the TCGA Safety Committee and the Texas Cotton Ginners’ Trust Staff for reviewing and offering many suggestions for appropriate updates to this program.

Much effort went into making this program possible. It is meant as a tool to build your gin’s safety program, not as a substitute for the safety program. Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and completeness of this information, TCGA and the authors, editors, contributors, and reviewers of this publication cannot be held responsible for any errors, omissions, nor any agencies interpretations, applications and changes of regulations described herein. It is hoped that the steps listed in this program will make your operation safer and in better compliance with certain regulations concerning safety. Please look over the material and put its information to use in your operations.

If you have questions regarding this information or comments on how it might be changed, feel free to contact the Texas Cotton Ginners’ Association.

Please note the following operation instructions:

Every effort has been made to link all forms to the appropriate agency, so that you are always downloading the most up to date form. Most of the other documents are saved in Adobe format. Several of the files have multiple versions, and you should choose the version that best fits your operation. The Adobe files cannot be modified, but in most cases, you can develop a modified version of the program by using the Word document discussed below.

Many of the chapters include the complete chapter from the original safety program (updated to match the current information) in Word format. This file may be opened, and you can pull individual pages from this file, and make any changes you see fit in order to customize a particular document.

History:

The TCGA safety program has undergone several revisions since it was originally developed. The earliest version of the program found was probably developed in the 1960’s, although the exact origin of this version is not known.

The program was updated in 1990 by the TCGA Safety Committee, composed of Wayne Mixon, James Stone, Steve Roach, Chris Breedlove, Steve Newton, Kent McMillan and Jack Link. Jim Mallory of Safety Management Associates, Ron Gleghorn of Texas Employers Insurance Co., and Roy Childers and Tommy Valco of Texas Agricultural Extension Service assisted with this version.

The program was again updated in 1996. This version of the Texas Cotton Ginners’ Association Safety Program would not have been possible if it were not for the combined efforts of many different people from across Texas. Special thanks are in order to the staff of the Texas AgriLife Extension Service. Mr. Roy Childers, Dr. Bryan Shaw, and Ms. Tracy Griffith put in countless hours improving the text, formatting, and content of the original Safety Program to produce the 1996 version of this program. The 1996 version was the first to be almost entirely entered in an electronic format. Without their work, this version would have been much more difficult. TCGA staff Dusty Findley and J Kelley Green assisted in the development of this edition.

In 2000, the safety program was converted to a CD format by Jerry Reynolds, Field Safety Representative, and J. Kelley Green, Director of Technical Services, under the leadership of the TCGA Safety Committee. The TCGA Safety Committee should be thanked for the time and contributions they have made to this program and to gin safety in Texas.

The program was converted from CD format into the first web version around 2001. Kim (Cleveland) Mixon and Aaron Nelsen were responsible for developing this first web version. This version was incorporated into our first web site in about 2003.

In 2008, David Oefinger updated our entire web site and completely re-worked our safety program. This version was in use until 2016, when the web site and safety program was updated to the current version.