What Should Be Attached To Every Sling?
I recently helped one of my colleagues at work to sort out the lifting slings; we had to do this for an upcoming health and safety audit. I noticed that you get various slings, and I asked my co-worker why some slings have tags on them. He told me he would tell me after a break, but he didn’t, and that made me wonder: “What should be attached to every sling?”
Health and safety standards indicate that information tags must be attached to every sling. Every sling must have an end- attachment point, which could be hard- or software. Slings must have protection sleeves attached when lifting or lowering loads that can cut and damage the slings.
I was so interested in the types of slings you get for lifting and what should be attached to the slings that I started researching what needs to be attached to slings according to the law. I also asked experts questions on the topic, and I will share their answers with you in this post. I am also fortunate to have received sling training from my company in the meantime.
What should Be Attached To Every Sling?
Experts in the lifting industry agree that organizations should stay within the frames of the law when it comes to lifting operations and what should be attached to every sling. The health and safety standards from OSHA states that information tags should be attached to every sling, and in this section, we will explore standard 1910.184.
Standard 1910.184 gives the appropriate guidelines to employers and employees about the different types of slings, the information, the criteria for inspections, and what needs to be done to ensure that slings have the correct attachments and can be used in the safest possible manner.
Information Tags That Should Be Attached To Slings
In this part of the post, we will look at the information tags that need to be attached to every sling according to standard 1910.184. The standard deals with the safety of the slings that people use to lift and lower goods and materials. The information that the tags have to contain includes the following:
- Who the manufacturer or the repairer of the sling is- this information is required to verify where the sling came from.
- Information on what material is used to manufacture the sling is important because you need to know what application you can use the slings for.
- The rated capacity of the sling and capacity for every hitching method that can be used include using the sling for a straight hitch, a basket hitch, a chocker hitch, or a bridle hitch. If attention is not given to this information, you could overload the sling.
- The sling identification and the standard quality information- the identification number is the serial number that makes traceability possible; it is also important to verify that the quality standards have been passed for the sling.
Let’s consider that we get many different slings, including chains, wire rope, endless round slings, and synthetic material slings. It makes sense that some of the information on the tags will be different from other types of slings. There is other information that may also be displayed on tags varying from sling-type to sling type. Next, we will look at end attachments.
End-attachments That Should Be Attached To Slings
The end attachments that should be attached to the slings used for lifting and lowering goods and material will differ based on the application criteria of the sling as well as the loads being lifted or lowered. We saw in the previous section that different hitches could be used to get the lifting task done, and the end attachment plays a big role in how effective the lift will be.
The end attachments will sometimes not fit through the eye bolts of the attachment point on the load, and in these cases, shackles will have to be added as an extra attachment point to the sling to ensure a safe and controlled lift. This configuration often happens when endless round slings and synthetic slings are used to lift and lower goods and materials.
The standard end attachments that chain slings come with should only be used for the correct application, and the end attachments that should come standard as part of a sling include: grab hooks, sling hooks, foundry hooks, or even a self-locking latch block. The master links could be oblong, round, or pear-shaped.
The end attachments that come standard with wire rope slings are called thimble, reeved thimble, and soft eye attachments. The attachment ends of the sling should only be used for the correct applications, as veering from the standards can pose serious harm to people or the load itself.
Edge/Cut Protection Attached To Slings Exposed To Hazards
The hazards that will cause the need to attach edge or cut protection to slings are when slings that are not made of metal are exposed to sharp edges or points on the load that can potentially cut the slings. The slings that can be exposed to this situation are endless round and synthetic slings.
Edge or cut protection sleeves can be attached by sliding the slings through the protective sleeves and then positioning the sleeves in the places where the slings can potentially get damaged. Newer types of protective sleeves are also manufactured with Velcro to make the process easier. It makes the attachment and the removal of the slings easier and faster.
Conclusion
We have seen that the occupational safety and health administration standard gives employers and employees guidelines on the information that should be attached to every sling. We also discussed the end attachments of slings attached to various types of slings based on the application of a sling.
Experts in the lifting industry also suggest that you attach cut or edge protection sleeves to every sling that may fail when exposed to conditions where sharp edges or points may be present. Endless round slings and synthetic material slings are more susceptible to this type of hazard. I enjoyed sharing the information I found, and I hope you enjoyed reading it.