Everything about the inspection of lifting equipment (below the hook)

Lifting equipment (below the hook) must also be inspected periodically (usually once a year). This is a visual inspection that can easily be done yourself.

Lifting equipment includes various items such as:

• Synthetic lifting slings
• Chain slings
• Wire rope slings
• Lifting beams
• Plate clamps

And also some other items that are not officially lifting equipment but do need to be inspected, such as slashing straps and tirfor winches.

According to article 7.20 of the Working Conditions Decree (6th paragraph, see below), lifting equipment must be inspected at least once a year by an 'expert' and tested if necessary.

An 'expert' is understood to be someone who knows what to look for during the inspection, what constitutes approval and what constitutes rejection. Legally, there are no specific requirements for this, such as a certificate, a course or anything else. However, this knowledge must be present, and a course is often a useful tool for this.

If you have a lifting license, that's great, but it often does not cover inspection.

Furthermore, in the same article of the Working Conditions Decree, we read that: 'tested if necessary'. This refers to the 'tensile testing machine', and there is no specific term for how often this or that should be on the tensile testing machine. In fact, it means that this (tensile testing machine) may be necessary in case of doubt during the inspection. In other words: if in doubt --> tensile testing machine. This is different from what we often hear in practice, that certain items have to be on the tensile testing machine every so many years. That is not the case, although there is certainly something to be said for it.

The first step is to carefully check whether the lifting equipment is CE marked; if not, it must be rejected. The point is that lifting equipment falls under the Machinery Directive, and that Directive (law) prescribes safety factors that these items must comply with. For example, the safety factor of a lifting sling is 7, which means that it should only break at a maximum working load x 7. This means, for example, that a 1-ton lifting sling should only break from 7 tons.

If you come across lifting equipment that is not CE marked, reject it, because then you also don't know whether it meets such legally required safety factors. We have developed a practical online course for the inspection of lifting equipment such as chain slings, lifting slings, wire rope slings, and tirfor winches, which concludes with a certificate.

In the e-learning "Inspection of lifting equipment", you will learn how to perform these inspections in a number of videos; the course material and inspection checklists (in WORD) can also be found in the learning environment. These inspection checklists are also covered so that you can perform these inspections in practice after the course.

Drs. Richard Winter

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