Is it a Legal Lift?

Let’s start with a premise I’ve laid out before. Everything has to be rated. From the ground bearing pressures through the crane to the items attached to the hook. We need to know what we are good for. OSHA 1926.251 states it this way:

Special custom design grabs, hooks, clamps, or other lifting accessories, for such units as modular panels, prefabricated structures and similar materials, shall be marked to indicate the safe working loads and shall be proof-tested prior to use to 125 percent of their rated load.

It’s inclusive with “Lifting accessories”. It’s not as clear as ASME B30.20 Below the Hook, but it’s clear enough. Also vague enough to be inclusive of anything that can called a Lifting Accessory. We commonly think of Concrete Buckets, Trash Bins or otherwise. But then we stop and change our thinking when it’s convenient. And this is where it could go wrong. People lift pallets of brick just on straps. Not in unusual circumstances, but as a practice because we don’t hold consistency and people to account for meeting the OSHA guideline to have everything rated. We defer to straps even though it’s obvious that straps even when it’s obvious that the items are supported by a structure. If the structure fails, the straps will fail to catch the load. This brings us back to “Lifting Accessories”. What are they good for?

If you want to lift safely, this consistency needs to become the mantra. If the item needs to be contained, the container needs to be rated for a crane lift. If the load is supported or lifted by structure, that structure needs to be rated. In some states and provinces, ASME B30.20 is cited specifically and ample guidance is found in ASME. If we are honest with ourselves, around 25% of our lifts are skirting the regulations that have been in place since 1970.