COTTON
Ginners Marketplace COTTON FARMING IS THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE GINNING INDUSTRY.
OSHA Pushes The Envelope With Enforcement Actions
plate 3/7/14 3:26 PM Page 1
It has been almost a year and a half since the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued two violations for noise in South Texas. Two cotton gins were cited for noise levels, and OSHA is saying it wants these ginners to require all workers in their plants to wear hearing protection. This is in spite of the fact that OSHA’s hearing protection standard does not apply to agriculture and that cotton gins are considered agriculture by OSHA. The fact that the cotton gins were following OSHA’s own guidance to agriculture related to noise does not seem to help either. The big issue here is that OSHA has never set a noise level for agriculture. Exposure time and duration are very important when determining noise limits, and agriculture is simply too seasonal for OSHA to have picked a level in the past. Under today’s OSHA, their inspectors have changed tactics. Rather than go through the work of developing a noise standard for agriculture, they simply issue two citations despite having no standard, and the two companies were actually following OSHA’s own guidance on the subject. In the citation, OSHA says that the gins are too loud and under the general duty clause, it believes hearing protection is necessary.
First Noise Citation For A Gin Fighting these types of citations is expensive, and a company typically will settle rather than go through the time, expense and strain of an OSHA hearing. In this case, however, the ginners feel strongly that they cannot settle. If OSHA wins this case, it will have successfully cited an agricultural operation for noise and may decide to start citing them for noise more often. As far as I know, this is the first noise citation we have ever seen in a gin, but make no mistake – OSHA is not just interested in cotton gins. If OSHA wins this case, it can use the same logic for any agricultural operation. These cases have also moved further than any OSHA case I have seen. Each case has been scheduled on the docket to be heard by a judge, and both cases are scheduled to be
WWW.NORTHERNLUCUS.COM 1116 Slaton Hwy. Lubbock, TX
FOR SALE: 2 – 158 GIN STANDS WITH CONTROLS MANUFACTURER OF HI-CAPACITY LINT CLEANING SYSTEMS IN 86” to 110” WIDTHS NEW 60” & 72” OVERSHOT BATTERY CONDENSERS 96” TO 144” INCLINE CLEANERS, STICK MACHINES & AIRLINE SEPARATORS
Cotton Ginners Marketplace
HIGH CAPACITY VACUUMS USED & FACTORY REBUILT GIN MACHINERY BALE HANDLING SYSTEMS COMPLETE LINE OF REPAIR PARTS FOR MURRAY, MITCHELL, H.E., CONSOLIDATED, CONTINENTAL, MOSS, LUMMUS, HORN & CMI 806-745-8156 1-800-776-8182 FAX 806-745-0564 E-MAIL: NORTHERNLUCUS@YAHOO.COM WWW.NORTHERNLUCUS.COM TWITTER: @COTTONFARMING
COTTON FARMING FEBRUARY 2016
23
early 2016. We are hopeful that only one case will be heard, and that the judgment will be used for both cases. But the timing is tricky, and the attorneys keep moving the schedule around. Hopefully, we will have a favorable ruling from the OSHA judges in the next few months and will finally get these cases behind us.
LEC-200 Electronic Seed Scale
Be Aware Of Your Options It is a sign of the times that OSHA can take a case where the company is doing exactly as the agency recommends and still cite them. This is the new way that OSHA operates. If you are visited or inspected by OSHA, keep this in mind and be sure to talk to your association staff or your legal folks before making any types of violation settlements with this agency. OSHA may be citing you for something that has never been against the rules, and you need to be aware of your options before making any agreements. Kelley Green, director of technical services for the Texas Cotton Ginners’ Association, contributed this article. Contact him at Kelley@tcga.org.
Come see us at the Mid-South Gin Show Moisture, Drying & Fire Prevention Solutions for your gin.
samjackson.com
Mid-South: 662-809-9730 Lubbock: 1-800-862-9966
Oil Free Air Cylinders & Valves Double Cylinders – Upper & Lower 100+ Bale per Hour Capacity
Lubbock Electric Co. 800-692-4474
www.lubbockelectric.com
Lummus Corporation has available the following quality, high-capacity used gin machinery. All machinery is offered “as is, where is” (unless noted otherwise) and is subject to prior sale. “As is” machinery can be repaired/reconditioned for an additional charge. 1 – Consolidated 96” R-5000 Stick Machine* 2 – Consolidated 120” R-5000 Stick Machines* 1 – Lummus 60” overshot Standard Battery Condenser* 1 – Consolidated 72” undershot Standard Battery Condenser* 1 – Consolidated 72” undershot MC Battery Condenser*
Cotton Ginners Marketplace
1 – 1997 model Ginning/Lint Cleaning Line, consisting of a 96” wide Model 700TM Feeder, 170-Saw ImperialTM III Gin, Super-Jet® Lint Cleaner, and tandem (2) Model 108 Lint Cleaners, with all guards, duct work, and related items 2 – Lummus Model 66 Lint Cleaners with Condensers 1 – Belt-Wide 75-HP Flooded-Suction Hydraulic Booster Pumping Unit 1 – Lubbock Electric Hydraulic Pumping Unit for Gin Dor-Les® or E.E. Dor-Les® Press (single reservoir with multiple motor/pump groups) 1 – Lummus Bale Handling System for up-packing press 1 – Lot, miscellaneous Burner and Moisture Unit components (contact us for details)
1 - Complete 2/141 Gin Plant consisting of: Unloading System with 15” diameter single-lane Powered Telescope, Rock Trap with Trash Vacuum, 72” Unloading Separator/Feed Control with Vacuum Wheel and Flight-Saver, and No. 50 Unloading Fan; First-Stage Drying/Precleaning System with Continental 3 MBTU Burner and No. 40 Push Fan, 54” Tower Dryer, 96” Continental Inclined Cleaner with Vacuum Wheel over 96” Horn 3-Saw Stick Machine (with double 96” x 24” Vacuum Wheels), Second-Stage Drying/Precleaning System with Continental 3 MBTU Burner and No. 40 Push Fan, 54” Tower Dryer, 96” Continental Inclined Cleaner with Vacuum Wheel over 96” Continental 2-Saw Stick Machine; Distribution/Overflow System with Continental 2-Stand Conveyor Distributor and 72” Automatic Overflow Hopper with Breaker Cylinder; Feeding/Ginning System with two (2) Continental 141-Saw Gins (converted) and 96” Comet Supreme Feeders; Lint Cleaning System with four (4) 66” wide Continental 16-D Lint Cleaners (two tandem arrangements); Condensing/Pressing System with 50” Moss Battery Condenser, 20” x 54” Continental Bespress, and Bale Handling System with Bale Push Cart (manual) and Bagger (powered); five (5) Smith 35/40 Centrifugal Fans (only one season of operation)
* - does not include any Steel Supports or Platforms
®
Physical Address: 225 Bourne Boulevard • Savannah, Georgia 31408-9586 USA Mailing Address: P.O. Box 929 • Pooler, Georgia 31322-0929 USA Phone: (912) 447-9000 • Fax: (912) 447-9250 Toll Free (USA Only): 1-800-4LUMMUS (1-800-458-6687) Web Site: www.lummus.com • E-mail: lummus.sales@lummus.com
© Copyright 2015 Lummus Corporation
24
COTTON FARMING FEBRUARY 2016
COTTONFARMING.COM
Pacific Ginning Co. Gin Manager Ron Nimmo Passes Away On Dec. 26, Pacific Ginning Co. gin manager Ron Nimmo passed away after a long battle with cancer. Ron was a board member and past chairman of the California Cotton Ginners Association. Ron has been called an “innovator” and a “wonderful person and friend” by his colleagues. Truer words were never spoken. He will be sorely missed by this Association, his colleagues and the entire cotton industry in California.
Snowpack And Current Reservoir Conditions Encouraging In January, the California Cotton Ginners and Growers Associations reported that the electronic readings of the Sierra Nevada snowpack on Dec. 23 show that its statewide water content was 9.3 inches, which was 112 percent of the Dec. 23 historical average. In looking back at 2015, below-normal precipitation and warm temperatures throughout the winter months combined to create a historically meager snowpack, according to the Department of Water Resource’s records. The snowpack at the start of February and March was only 23 percent and 19 percent of average, respectively, on those dates. By April 1, when the snowpack typically is at its peak, electronic readings showed the snowpack’s water content was only 5 percent of normal for that date, the lowest on record. El Niño needs to keep on coming!
Cotton Gin Brushes
Channel Saws
Our precision CNC fabricating equipment enables us to produce the highest quality gin brushes and channel saws at a very competitive price. When it comes to our products, we use only the highest quality “Made in the USA” raw materials available. We know gin machinery and the conditions in which it has to perform, and our brushes and channel saws are manufactured to an exacting standard for the modern cotton gin.
Ask your supplier for
RAM Brushes & Channel Saws or give us a call
RAM Manufacturing Company 1333 E. 44th St. Lubbock, TX 79404 806-745-5552 Fax: 806-745-5582 rammfgco@rammfg.net www.rammfg.net
Cotton’s Calendar 2016
Cotton Ginners Marketplace
Feb. 5-7: NCC Annual Meeting, Dallas, Texas. Feb. 26-27: Mid-South Farm and Gin Show, Memphis, Tenn. Feb. 29-March 3: Cotton Board Meeting, Memphis, Tenn. April 7-8: Texas Cotton Ginners Association Trade Show, Lubbock, Texas. June 7-9: Cotton Incorporated Meeting, Dallas, Texas. July 31-Aug. 3: Southern/Southeastern Board Meeting, Amelia Island, Fla. Aug. 2-4: Cotton Board/Cotton Incorporated Meeting, Scottsdale, Ariz. Aug. 24-26: NCC Board Meeting, Memphis, Tenn.
2017 Jan. 4-6: Beltwide Cotton Conferences, Dallas, Texas. Jan. 18-21: Southern/Southeastern Annual Meeting, Charlotte, N.C. Feb. 10-12: NCC Annual Meeting, Dallas, Texas. Feb. 28-March 1: Cotton Board March Meeting. April 6-7: Texas Cotton Ginners Association Trade Show, Lubbock, Texas. June 6-8: Cotton Incorporated June Meeting. Twitter: @CottonFarming
COTTON FARMING FEBRUARY 2016
25