Look Up and Look Out: The Essentials of Safe Mechanical Lifting

Every suspended load is stored energy waiting for a reason to come down. A worn sling, a misjudged weight, a shifting load, a gust of wind: any one of them can turn a routine lift into a falling object in a fraction of a second. And when that happens, the only thing that decides who gets hurt is who happens to be standing underneath.

That's the heart of this rule: plan the lift, stay within the equipment's limits, and keep people out from under the load.

What that looks like on the job

• Know the weight. "About two tonnes" isn't good enough. Check drawings, labels or the manufacturer's data before you rig.
• Use the right rigging, rigged the right way. Follow the manufacturer's specification for the number, type and attachment points of slings.
• Inspect before every lift. Cuts, burns, abrasion, broken wires and missing tags are all reasons to reject a sling, however urgent the job.
• Set up an exclusion zone and keep it clear. Barriers and a banksman are cheap compared with a life.
• Stay out of the line of fire. Never walk or stand beneath a suspended load, even "just for a second" to guide it in. Use tag lines.

Real-World Impact

On 15 March 2008, a tower crane collapsed at a construction site on East 51st Street in Manhattan, killing seven people: six construction workers and a member of the public. The city's investigation found that the collapse began when polyester slings holding a heavy steel collar failed. The findings were that a damaged sling was in use, four slings were used instead of the eight the manufacturer specified, and they were attached at the wrong points. When the slings failed, the falling collar set off the collapse of the whole tower.

Source: New York City Department of Buildings and Department of Investigation; Arup investigation (2009)

Reflective Questions

• Do you know the actual weight of the next load you'll lift, or are you estimating?
• When did you last reject a sling, and how did the people around you react?
• Are our exclusion zones respected, or do people cut through them when they're in a hurry?