Building a rigging equipment register: slings, shackles, hooks and lifting devices
How to build a register of rigging gear that answers an OSHA inspector or insurer: one line per item, the identification OSHA 1910.184 requires on each sling type, the fields worth recording, inspection intervals per item, and what to do when an item is removed.
By Hovermarks team
Quick answer. A rigging register lists every item individually: each sling, shackle, hook, eyebolt and below-the-hook device gets its own ID and line. Record the identification OSHA 1910.184 requires on the item (rated capacity and, depending on type, size, grade, reach, hitch, angle and material), its location, its inspection interval and its history. Items that fail come off the register as removed, with the reason and date.
Rigging gear is the hardest equipment on a site to keep track of. There is a lot of it, it is small, it moves between crews and job sites, and much of it looks the same. A crane has a serial number on a plate. Twenty shackles in a bin do not. That is why rigging registers fail in a predictable way: they list gear by type and quantity, and on the day a sling is pulled for a cut, nobody can say whether it was inspected last month or never.
One line per item
The single most useful rule is to register items individually. Every sling, shackle, hook, eyebolt, hoist ring and below-the-hook device gets its own ID and its own line. Inspections, damage and removal happen to individual items, so the record has to be kept at that level.
Use a short ID with a class prefix (SL- for slings, SH- for shackles,
HK- for hooks, BTH- for lifting beams and clamps), attached on a tag
that does not cover any required marking. For slings, that usually means a
tag on a tie or ring, never an adhesive label on the sling body.
The identification OSHA requires on the item
OSHA 1910.184 requires each sling to carry permanent identification, and the register should copy it so the record still holds it if the tag wears off:
| Sling type | Required identification | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Alloy steel chain | Size, grade, rated capacity and reach | 1910.184(e)(1) |
| Wire rope | Manufacturer's markings, with the recommended safe working load for the hitches used, the angle it is based on, and number of legs if more than one | 1910.184(f)(1) |
| Metal mesh | Rated capacity for vertical basket and choker hitches | 1910.184(g)(1) |
| Natural or synthetic fiber rope | Rated capacity for the hitches used and the angle, fiber type, and number of legs if more than one | 1910.184(h)(1) |
| Synthetic web | Rated capacities for each hitch and the web material | 1910.184(i)(1) |
Rigging hardware under ASME B30.26 carries the manufacturer's name or trademark and its rated load, and a missing or illegible marking is itself a reason to remove the item. Below-the-hook devices under ASME B30.20 are marked with their rated load as well.
Fields worth recording
- ID and item class (chain sling, web sling, shackle, hook, lifting beam)
- Manufacturer, model or size, and serial number where there is one
- Rated capacity, with the hitch and angle it applies to
- Material and, for chain, grade; for slings, reach or length
- Date put into service
- Location or crew it is issued to
- Inspection interval and the date the next periodic inspection is due
- Status: in service, quarantined, removed or destroyed
Inspection intervals live on the item
Every sling gets a daily inspection before use by a competent person under OSHA 1910.184(d), which needs no record. Alloy steel chain slings also need a thorough periodic inspection at least every 12 months, with a record of the month it was done under 1910.184(e)(3)(ii). ASME B30.9 calls for documented periodic inspections of every sling type, at intervals set by the severity of service, and ASME B30.26 and B30.20 do the same for hardware and below-the-hook devices.
Because the interval depends on how hard each item works, two identical shackles on the same site can be on different cycles. Keep the interval and next-due date on each item's line, not as a single date for the whole bin. The free chain sling inspection record gives a printable sheet for the periodic inspection OSHA requires.
When an item is removed
The OSHA removal criteria differ by sling type: broken wires and kinking for wire rope, wear and stretch for chain, cuts and burns for synthetic web. The free OSHA sling inspection checker lists them by type. Whatever the reason, the item is removed from service immediately and its line changes status, with the date, the reason and who made the call. If it is destroyed, retire its ID. If a replacement arrives, it gets a new ID and a new line.