Almost dropped a load last week because of worn out slings

Tbh I was running a job in Portland last Tuesday and one of my nylon slings had a fray I didn't catch until I was hooking up a 12-ton beam. If that thing snapped we'd be looking at a totaled jobsite. Has anyone else had a close call with slings that looked fine but were actually done for?

2 comments

2 Comments

amy6921mo ago

Hand over hand feel for broken wires or puffy spots" is good advice, but I've always just trusted a visual check and never had an issue. I think marking dates is overkill unless you're running a huge crew with slings all over the place.

henry1011mo ago

Read a report from OSHA a while back that said a lot of sling failures happen from hidden damage you can't even see with a visual check. They recommend doing a hand-over-hand feel for broken wires or puffy spots, not just looking at the surface. Another thing I heard is that nylon slings can get brittle from UV light over time, even if they still look new. So if you leave them out in the sun for months, they might be way weaker than they look. I'd start marking the purchase date on every sling with a sharpie and retiring them after a year or two of regular use, just to be safe. Better to spend a hundred bucks on new gear than have a beam come down on someone's head.