8.2 Lifting Tackle and Rigging: Slings, Shackles, Hooks, Inspection and Discard

The legal duty

The Plant Requiring Certificate of Fitness Regulations 2024 separate lifting machinery (the crane or hoist) from lifting tackle: the slings, shackles, hooks, eyebolts, spreader beams and other gear between the machine and the load, not permanently attached to the load.

Regulation 16:

1. No person may use any lifting tackle on lifting machinery unless its design and construction comply with a recognised standard.
2. The owner or occupier must, so far as practicable, ensure the lifting tackle is in good condition before use.

The Fourth Schedule of the Regulations lists the recognised standards, including:

• Malaysian Standards (MS)
• ISO
• British Standards (BS)
• ANSI
• DIN
• Australian Standards (AS)
• IEC
• CENELEC

In practice this means buying tackle made and tested to a recognised product standard, with a manufacturer's certificate, and checking it before every use.

OSHA 1994 section 15(2)(a) (safe plant) and section 18B (risk assessment) also apply. The Malaysian regulations do not set a fixed interval for periodic thorough examination of tackle. A widely used benchmark is the UK Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER) requirement for a thorough examination of lifting accessories at least every six months by a competent person, alongside pre-use checks, with the results recorded. Specify the interval in the construction phase plan or lifting procedure.

Types of lifting tackle

Marking and records

Every item should carry:

• a unique identification number
• the safe working load or working load limit, for multi-leg slings at the leg angles stated
• the grade or standard, where applicable
• the manufacturer and date or batch

Keep a lifting tackle register showing each item's certificate, inspection dates and results, and the date it was withdrawn. Many sites add a colour tag that changes each inspection period, so that out-of-date items are easy to spot. The colour scheme should be explained in the site rules.

Pre-use inspection and discard

The person using the tackle, normally a competent rigger, checks it before every lift. Remove items with any defect from use at once, label them "DO NOT USE", and quarantine or destroy them.

Wire rope slings

Discard criteria in ASME B30.9 (slings) for a single-part sling:

• 10 randomly distributed broken wires in one rope lay, or 5 broken wires in one strand in one rope lay
• kinking, crushing, birdcaging or other distortion of the rope structure
• severe corrosion, or heat damage (discoloured or charred)
• damaged or cracked fittings or ferrules; a slipped ferrule
• missing or illegible identification

Remember that wire ropes on the crane itself (hoist and luffing ropes) are judged against the crane manufacturer's criteria and ISO 4309 by the crane's competent examiner.

Chain slings

• Links stretched, bent, twisted, cracked, gouged or worn. EN 818-6 practice discards chain worn to 90% of its nominal diameter, or stretched more than 5%.
• Hooks opened or with damaged catches; damaged master links or connectors.
• Exposure to excessive heat, or welding spatter on links.

Synthetic slings

EN 1492 colour codes for flat webbing and round slings (working load limit in a straight vertical lift):

Discard a synthetic sling if it has:

• cuts, tears or abrasion
• broken or worn stitching
• burns, melting or heat glazing
• chemical damage
• knots
• for round slings, damage exposing the core yarns
• a missing or illegible label, because without it the rating cannot be confirmed

Shackles and hooks

• Shackles: discard if bent, deformed or cracked, if the pin is not the original matching pin, or if the threads are damaged.
• Hooks: ASME B30.10 removes a hook from service if its throat opening has increased by more than 5%, if it is twisted more than 10° from its plane, or if it is cracked or worn beyond the manufacturer's limits. The safety catch must close fully.

Safe rigging practice

1. Know the weight. Use delivery documents, the drawing or calculation. Never guess.
2. Choose the sling configuration and angle from the load and the sling's rated capacity (Section 8.3). Wider angles increase leg tension.
3. Protect slings from sharp edges with packers or edge protectors, especially synthetic slings on steel or concrete edges.
4. Seat loads correctly in hooks. Never load the hook tip. Connect shackles so the pin is not loaded by a rotating sling.
5. Never use damaged, unmarked or homemade tackle, including slings made with wire rope grips or reinforcement bar hooks.
6. Do not shorten slings with knots. Do not wrap a sling round the hook in a way that crushes it.
7. Use taglines to control loads. Never stand under a suspended load or put hands between the load and the sling as it tightens.
8. Lift slightly first and check the balance, sling seating and brakes before the full lift.
9. Store tackle off the ground, dry and away from chemicals, heat and sunlight, with synthetic slings out of UV.

Scenario: the rebar bundle lift

A rigger prepares to lift a 2.5-tonne rebar bundle with a yellow (3 t) webbing sling in a two-leg basket, running over the cut ends of the bars. The SSS notices:

• the label is missing on the second sling
• the shackle pin has been replaced with a bolt

The SSS stops the lift because:

• an unlabelled sling has no confirmed rating and must be withdrawn
• the bolt is not a rated shackle pin
• cut rebar ends will slice webbing slings

Corrective action: use a rated chain sling, which suits rough steel, with the correct leg angle checked against its tag, or webbing with proper edge protection. Use a shackle with its matching pin and taglines. The defective items are quarantined and logged in the tackle register.