RH : Rigging Safety Rules & Tips

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Chapter:- Rigging & Hoisting

Rigging Safety Rules & Tips

Common Rigging Safety Rules will help you remember some of the most important safe rigging practices.

1. Be sure to establish the weight of the load.
2. Determine the proper type of hitch based on the type of load.
3. 
   Understand the relationships between angles and tension as they pertain to slings and hardware. If you don’t understand the relationships, or if you have any questions, check with your supervisor before you proceed.
4. Make sure that you select the right sling for the job based on the type of load to be lifted.
5. Also, select the right hardware based on the type of load and the type of sling or slings that will be used for the lift.
6. Inspect each sling before you use it. Never use a defective sling. Take defective slings out of service immediately and follow your company’s procedure for handling defective equipment.
7. Inspect all rigging hardware before you use it. Never use defective hardware.Take defective hardware out of service immediately and follow your company’s procedure for handling defective equipment.
8. As you rig the load, protect slings from cuts and tears.
9. Determine the load’s center of gravity.
10. Pay close attention to detail at the time of the lift.

Rigging Safety Tips

Here are some safety tips for some of the common mechanical construction industry rigging applications

1. Never tie two or more slings together.
2. Always connect two slings with an appropriate-sized shackle.
3. Never attach a sling directly to a lifting lug. Always use a shackle.
4. Likewise, never run a sling through a set of lifting lugs or eye-bolts. Doing so creates too much tension on the lugs or eye-bolts.
5. 
   Never choke below the threads on synthetic web slings.
6. Take wire rope slings out of service immediately if they become defective. A wire rope is defective if there are five or more broken wires in one rope lay and/or three or more broken wires in one strand of one rope lay, (a rope lay is the length along the rope where one strand makes a complete revolution around the rope).
7. Some companies have established a policy that wire rope is defective when a single wire breaks. Check with your supervisor about your company’s policy before using wire rope slings.
8. “Never saddle a dead horse.” When using wire rope clips be sure to attach the wire rope clips with the inside curve of the U -bolt up against the very end(dead end) of the wire, and the inside of the U-bolt clip (saddle) up against the live end of the wire. 

Blind Lifting

Blind lifting refers to a lifting operation where the load or the lifting area is not visible to the crane operator or the rigging team. This often occurs in situations where obstacles, such as walls or equipment, block the line of sight. 

To ensure safety during blind lifts, communication is critical, typically involving:

• Spotters or signalers to guide the operator.
• Two-way radios for clear instructions.
• Pre-lift planning to identify potential hazards.

Here are more safety tips for some of the common mechanical construction industry rigging applications.

• Never allow a synthetic sling to bunch up on a shackle.
• Always use the right size shackle for the job. For example, a 1 inch shackle is too small to use with a 1 ½ inch wire rope sling. However, a 2 inch shackle works safely with a 1 ½ inch wire rope sling.
• Never make a shackle to shackle connection.
• Be sure to use a safe shackle orientation. Don’t allow the inside loop of a wire rope sling to place tension on a shackle pin directly where the pin screws into the shackle or directly where the pin comes through the hole on the opposite side of the shackle. Doing so would place too much tension on the shackle ears.
• Never orient two slings in a shackle so that they would pull the shackle in opposite directions that are parallel to the shackle pin.
• Be sure not to orient a shackle/sling on a shackle pin in a manner that could result in the shackle pin becoming unscrewed during the lift.
• Make sure that you choose the right size sling/sling loop based on the size of the crane or derrick hook.
• Be sure not to “point load” crane or derrick hooks. The rated capacity of the hook decreases as the angle increases and the load moves out away from the center of the hook.