wire rope and rigging consultants free sample

ITI has been an innovator and pioneer in rigging training for nearly 30 years and conducts more rigging training for corporate clients in North America than any other provider due to its expertise, size of training staff, and deep course curriculum. Under the broader category of Rigging, courses are further classified into the following sub-categories:

The “meat and potatoes” of rigging training. ITI Rigging Applications courses cover the full gamut of skill and experience levels with options available for true neophytes to seasoned veterans and everyone in-between…

Removal criteria for wire rope, wire rope slings, synthetic web/round slings, chain slings, rigging hardware, and below-the-hook lifting devices is the focus here. Personnel qualification is available.

ITI endorses the national certification program offered by the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO) and provides training to prepare candidates for NCCCO written and practical exams. Exam administration with Certified Practical Examiners (ITI Instructors) is also offered.

Designed for lift planners, crane and rigging managers, and other non-engineers who conduct lift planning activities, ITI’s Fundamentals of Rigging Engineering courses are LEEA accredited and approved by ASME.

ITI offers signalperson training for personnel who use hand and voice signals in crane operations. Qualification and Certification Exams through NCCCO are offered.

It’s never been officially chronicled, but sometime during the early 1990’s the professional work classification of “Tower Rigger” was eclipsed by “Tower Technician”, some company managers say, because the job requires a greater degree of technical knowledge to construct and maintain communications sites.

However, no matter how many newly acquired skillsets the technican has obtained, rigging knowledge is one of the most essential to ensure a safe installation of structures and equipment. Having safe, fully inspected rigging equipment is vitally as important.

C. Type 5: The endless sling is the most versatile of all nylon sling configurations. It can be used in a vertical, choker or basket hitch and the wear points can be adjusted around the circumference of the sling to increase its useful life.

F. Type 4: Twisted eye slings are similar to flat eye slings except the eyes are twisted 90 degrees to form a better choker hitch and they will nest well in a crane hook.

The same sling will have a different capacity for each hitch. The choker has the lowest capacity. The vertical hitch has an additional 25% capacity and the basket hitch is twice the vertical hitch capacity. The horizontal degree of a two-point pick will affect the load capacity of your sling

Avoid shock loading to nylon or wire rope slings when beginning your lift. The crane or hoist should be engaged slowly until the load is suspended. The speed in which you lift or lower the load should be increased or decreased gradually. Sudden starts or stops place a heavy load on the slings and load line, up to 50 times the actual weight. Once any sling has been shock loaded it must be removed from service.

Manufacturers identify their classes of wire ropes beginning with two numbers such as 6x25. The "6" means that there are 6 strands or larger wires making up the wire rope and the second number "25" means that there are 25 smaller wires laid around each other to make up each strand. The other wires in some wire ropes are called filler wire. Wire fatigue resistance will increase as the number of wires per strand increases.

Known as the industry workhorse of wire ropes, the 6x25 Filler Wire maintains a good balance between resistance to abrasion and fatigue resistance. When both abrasion resistance and fatigue resistance are  required, the 6x26 Warrington Seale is a better alternative.

Keep the wire rope lubricated so that rust and dirt will not weaken it  by acting as an abrasive on the rope as it spools through the sheaves and drums. Lubrication of the rope  allows individual wires to move and work together so that all the wires carry the load instead of just a few. Weather and other exposures can also remove

Natural and synthetic fiber rope offerings have expanded over the past years with the introduction of new materials such as Kevlar and other advancements that can provide a higher strength and a better

Recommended working loads will vary according to the rope size, type and manufacturer. Twisted rope is oftentimes has the working load listed between 10% to 15% of the tensile strength and braided rope is between 15% to 20%. Therefore, a braided rope with a listed tensile strength of 12,500 pounds might only have a safe working load of 1,850 pounds. Ropes have different qualities and you should carefully assess your rigging requirements. In example, Kevlar has a considerably higher breaking strength than most available products,

It is necessary to check with your cordage vendor to obtain the safe working load of your rope prior to purchasing it for any rigging or lifting purpose!

The working load is the maximum mass or force which any rigging product is authorized to support in general service when the pull is applied in-line, unless noted otherwise, with respect to the center line of the product. This term is used interchangeably with the following terms:

Many factors, including rope usage, load conditions and weather exposure affect the rope’s working load capabilities. You should inspect your rope daily for concentrated wear. It must be free of frayed strands and broken yarns, cuts and abrasions, burns and discoloration. If there is excessive soiling or paint buildup, place it out of service. Check for chemical or heat damage and ultraviolet deterioration. This type of degradation is indicated by discoloration and the presence of splinters and slivers on the rope surface. Do not use wire rope or V-belt sheaves for synthetic rope as the rope will be pinched inside.

Basic requirements for rigging safety can be found in OSHA standard: 29 CFR 1926.250-251, subpart H. By following the recommendations by manufacturers and being in compliance with ANSI/ASME standards you’ll provide a safe working environment.

We recommend that you contact our rigging supply companies to obtain additional information about their products and services.Many of our viewers have requested information about knot tying for rigging. Instead of duplicating the wealth of information that is already available, it"s easier to purchase one of the rigging books that are available or visit www.animatedknots.com . It provides a wealth of information with animated features and is oftentimes used by tower crews for training.

The purpose of this safety policy and procedure is to establish the methods and guidelines for the safe use of slings throughout [COMPANY]. Slings, a component of hoisting and rigging systems, are used to lift and move loads. In [COMPANY], alloy steel chain, wire rope, natural and synthetic fiber rope, and synthetic web slings are typically used. Slings are capable of lifting tremendous loads.

This safety policy and procedure provides guidelines for implementing an effective safe sling use program. It includes provisions for training, recognizing the types of slings used in [COMPANY], understanding the attachments used with slings, and inspecting slings. Additionally, it presents information on sling repair requirements and subsequent removal from service.

It is the policy of [COMPANY] is to provide a place of employment free from recognized hazards that cause or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees or the public. Therefore, to minimize and eliminate material lifting hazards, properly rated slings that are not damaged or defective will be used in [COMPANY]. When hazards exist that cannot be eliminated, then engineering practices, administrative practices, safe work practices, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and proper training regarding Slings will be implemented. These measures will be implemented to minimize those hazards to ensure the safety of employees and the public.

It is the responsibility of each manager/unit head, supervisor and employee to ensure implementation of [COMPANY]’s safety policy and procedure on Slings. It is also the responsibility of each [COMPANY] employee to report immediately any unsafe act or condition of equipment to his or her supervisor.

Managers/Unit Heads are responsible for ensuring adequate funds are available for the purchase of chains and slings for their areas. They will also be responsible for identifying the employees affected by this safety policy and procedure. Managers/Unit Heads will obtain and coordinate the required training for the affected employees. Managers/Unit Heads will also audit their safe sling use program to ensure effective implementation with this safety policy and procedure.

Supervisors. Every six months, supervisors or a designated employee will inspect all slings in their work area for wear and for defects in composition and welds. Supervisors will ensure that defective or damaged slings are removed from service. Supervisors will also ensure that employees are provided with the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as necessary for their job (e.g., foot, hand, or eye protection as necessary).

Employees shall comply with all applicable training. Additionally, employees shall report all damaged slings and/or unsafe conditions to their supervisors.

Safety and Loss Control. Safety and Loss Control will provide prompt assistance to managers/unit heads, supervisors, or others as necessary on any matter concerning this safety policy and procedure. Additionally, Safety and Loss Control will assist in developing or securing the required training. Safety and Loss Control will work with Purchasing to ensure that all newly purchased slings comply with this safety policy and procedure. Additionally, Safety will provide consultative and audit assistance to ensure the safe use of slings.

The user should determine that the sling is being used in accordance with rated capacity as listed in the manufacturer’s catalog. The alloy steel chain, wire rope and fiber rope slings are typically used where sling damage to the load is not critical. Synthetic web slings are ideal where sling damage to a load is not acceptable.

Alloy chain slingswill have permanent identification affixed to the sling indicating the size, grade, rated capacity, and reach of the sling. Untagged slings will be removed from service. Alloy steel chains and chain slings should not be heated above 600 degrees after being received from the manufacturer.

Wire rope slings must be proof-tested by the manufacturer to ensure quality. A certificate verifying rated capacity will accompany each wire rope sling. This certificate must be available for review.

Synthetic web slings must be marked or coded to show the rated capacities for each type of hitch, type of web material, and manufacturer. Additionally, synthetic web slings must not be exposed to fumes, vapors, sprays, mists, liquid acids, liquid phenolics, or liquid caustics.

Equipment Inspections are conducted to ensure specific safety equipment is in good working order and will function when needed. Examples and frequencies are:

All attachments including hooks, rings, oblong links, pear shaped links, and welded link components will be rated at least at the capacity of the sling itself. Makeshift links or other shop fabricated attachments will not be used. Slings twisted more than 10 degrees from the plane of the unbent hook will not be used.

Slings will be inspected each day prior to use. Any visual defect will be reported. Damaged slings will not be used. In severe conditions (e.g., temperature, corrosion, etc.), slings will be inspected throughout the day. Alloy chain slings will be inspected every six months by a supervisor or designated employee for wear and defects in composition and welds. This inspection will consider not only the physical aspects, but also the total service life of the slings. This inspection will be recorded and maintained on file with the date of the inspection and name and signature of the employee performing the inspection.

Slings must be in good condition and not damaged or defective to ensure safe and reliable use. If slings are worn, damaged or defective they shall not be used. If the slings are believed to be repairable, then those slings will be returned to the sling manufacturer for repairs. The manufacturer must proof-test all repaired slings before they are accepted for reuse. Under no circumstances will employees attempt to repair slings for reuse. Broken links or attachments on steel alloy chain slings will not be repaired using mechanical coupling links. Additionally, any sling with temporary repairs will not be used.

• In manila rope, eye splices will consist of at least three full tucks, and short splices will consist of at least six full tucks, three on each side of the splice center line.

• In synthetic rope, eye splices will consist of at least four full tucks, and short splices will consist of at least eight full tucks, four on each side of the center line.

• Strand end tails will not be trimmed flush with the surface of the rope immediately adjacent to the full tucks. This applies to all types of fiber rope and both eye and short splices. For fiber rope under one inch in diameter, the tail will project at least six inches beyond the last full tuck.

The following information is to be used as a guide for inspecting wire rope and wire rope slings. Inspection frequency should be based on safety factors, property damage, and the cost of replacing destroyed or damaged goods and material dropped due to the use or misuse of improper or damaged wire rope and slings. Additionally, slings should be inspected at regular intervals. This interval should be determined by the user and is dependent upon the particular use of the sling and [COMPANY] safety requirements. A sling should be inspected after any unusual situation that may have damaged it, such as overload, accident, or fire. It should not be returned in service until continued safe operation has been verified.Each sling should have a serial number. If no number is available, a tag should be attached at the time of inspection. This number should be listed on the inspection report. Inspection should be performed only by persons with sufficient experience and knowledge to properly apply the criteria for rejection. The following should be considered criteria for rejection:

• Abrasion: There should be no wearing, scrubbing, or preening of any outside wire causing the reduction of the diameter of a single wire by more than 1/3.

• Reduced Diameter: There should not be any reduction of the diameter of the rope along the main length or of any section (overloading or contact with sharp edges of load without permission).

A good chain and chain sling inspection program should provide more than a physical check of the chain’s condition. It should be a complete recorded history of each unit. If conditions and/or time make it impossible to write such a history,

CLEVELAND, OH – Mazzella Lifting Technologies, a Mazzella Company, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Denver Wire Rope & Supply. This acquisition will strengthen Mazzella’s footprint west of the Mississippi River and reinforce Mazzella’s commitment to be a one-stop resource for lifting and rigging services and solutions.

Denver Wire Rope & Supply has been in business since 1983 and services a variety of industries out of their location in Denver, CO. Denver Wire Rope & Supply is a leading supplier of rigging products, crane and hoist service, below-the-hook lifting devices, and certified rigging inspection and training. Effective immediately, Denver Wire Rope & Supply will operate as Mazzella / Denver Wire Rope. Terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.

“Denver Wire Rope & Supply will complement the wide range of products and services that Mazzella Companies offers. We are dedicated to being a single-source provider for rigging products, overhead cranes, rigging inspections, and rigging training. Both companies commit to a customer-first mentality, providing the highest-quality products, and leading by example when it comes to safety and sharing our expertise with customers and the market,” says Tony Mazzella, CEO of Mazzella Companies.

This acquisition will provide Mazzella Lifting Technologies with a western U.S. location that will allow them to grow and expand their reach past the Oklahoma City market.

“Our team and family are excited to be part of the Mazzella Companies. This acquisition strengthens our place in the market and allows our team to continue to provide excellent service and products to our valued customer base and expand our offering,” says Ken Gubanich, President of Denver Wire Rope & Supply.

“Over the years, we have had numerous companies show interest in purchasing Denver Wire Rope & Supply, none seemed to be the right fit. We are looking forward to becoming a part of an aggressive, passionate, and progressive organization. As a family business for over 36 years, it is important to us that our customers/friends, suppliers, and team members continue to be treated with first-class service, products, and employment opportunities. Again, we are very enthusiastic about our future and look forward to being a quality supplier for your crane, safety training, rigging, and hoisting needs for years to come,” says Gubanich.

“We wish Ed and Carol Gubanich all the best in their retirement. We welcome Ken and the other second and third-generation Gubanich family members, as well as the entire Denver Wire Rope Team, into the Mazzella organization,” says Mazzella.

We’ve changed our name from Denver Wire Rope to Mazzella. Aside from the new name and logo, our member experience is virtually unchanged. Here are some common questions and answers related to this change.

In 2019, Denver Wire Rope & Supply was acquired by Mazzella Companies to expand lifting and rigging products and services to the western half of the United States.

In 1954, James Mazzella founded Mazzella Wire Rope & Sling Co. in Cleveland, OH. For over 65 years, the company has grown organically by nurturing historic relationships, expanding its product offerings, and entering new markets through acquisition.

Today, Mazzella Companies is one of the largest privately held companies in the lifting and rigging industries. Since our humble beginnings, we’ve grown to over 800 employees with over 30 locations across North America. Our product offerings have expanded from basic rigging products, to include:Overhead crane fabrication

One thing that hasn’t changed is our commitment to a no-excuses, customer-first mentality that extends from the shop floor to the front office. Some of the major markets Mazzella serves are: Mining, Steel, Oil & Gas, Construction, Energy, Shipbuilding, Vehicle and Durable Goods. Mazzella’s diverse portfolio includes Sheffield Metals a manufacturer and distributor of coated bare metal products for engineered metal roof and wall systems. New Tech Machinery is a manufacturer of portable roof panel and gutter machines—recognized as the world’s finest portable rollformers.

Just the name. We want to be clear that our people, locations, products, and services have not changed. We will be moving to the Mazzella name for all rigging brands under the Mazzella Companies umbrella in order to create a better experience for our customers and employees.

With all the Mazzella rigging locations working as one team and under one name, your level of service and support will be improved exponentially. Nothing will change in terms of the local team you’re used to working with. The same people will still be here—the only thing that will be changing will be the name of the organization they work for. You now have more resources, inventory, and clearer lines of communication. Our goal is to improve your experience and instill confidence and comfort in every interaction.

Mazzella is experiencing rapid growth. With this growth, we can better serve our customers as one team under the Mazzella name, versus many companies operating independently. The only change you will experience will be better service and improved lines of communication between our people and yours.

For sure! We hope to expand our service line across the entire United States. With over 30 locations, your level of service should only be improved and lines of communication more clear.

Over the duration of my career in the wire rope field (about 45 years)  acquired knowledge and skills pertaining to wire rope and wire rope sling inspection and consultation.

To add to this experience during the past 10 years working as a wire rope sales  consultant with Unirope Canada Ltd have gained extensive knowledge in the application and uses of high-performance wire ropes for the mobile crane, tower crane and bridge crane industries. As well as consulting clients in the proper application and use of high performance wire rope as well as removal criteria for mobile, overhead bridge, tower and lattice boom crane ropes.

I possess above average communication skills and  have been fortunate to establish great working relationships with many people who use these products, including crane owners and operators, construction and fabrication industries across Western Canada. Communication skills have been enforced by many personal growth seminars and courses .

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Each year in the United States about 50 people are killed in crane accidents and hundreds more are injured. These incidents are frequently attributed to poorly inspected rigging equipment and improper or unsafe rigging techniques performed by inadequately trained riggers.

During the development of our own Wire Rope Safety training videos, we were fortunate to receive some expert feedback from Howard Kaplan, trainer and owner of Liberty Crane & Rigging Consultants in Phoenix, Arizona. We recently caught up with Howard again for a brief Q&A about wire ropes, rigging safety, and the importance of proper training.

I started my career way, way back in 1982 at a trade school, and the best part about that trade school was I had some instructors who just loved heavy equipment and they were great instructors simply because they had a passion for teaching. I was very, very lucky that I didn’t learn a lot of bad habits. I learned the right way to operate stuff right from the beginning. And since my instructors really liked teaching, it gave me a kind of sense for it as well. At the trade school you became a sort of mentor as you became more experienced. So as you progressed through the program it was your job to teach the newer people as they came on. I didn’t even know you were supposed to be nervous doing public speaking. I didn’t know any of that. I was just being a heavy equipment operator and helping other people out because they helped me out.

After that I went into construction for several years. I joined the military. I was in the military for almost 14 years. I was in the crane rigging field my last 7 years in the Navy. When I got out I went to work for a crane company. I’d been a crane operator in the Navy, and they’d sent me to all these schools to be a crane instructor.

Well, in 2010 OSHA came out and said every mobile crane operator needs to be certified. Truth be told, probably 70-80% of crane operators out there already were, but what happened was the little mom-and-pop shops, the folks with one or two cranes, find out that their crane operators need to be certified and they start freaking out. Most of those guys unfortunately are not crane operators. If you met one on the street he would tell you he was an electrician, he’s a plumber, he’s a welder, he is anything but a crane operator. But the mom-and-pop has a crane that they need to use incidentally, to pick stuff up and put it down, and they can’t for the life of them understand why somebody would need to be certified to run that thing when they barely even use it. And truth be told, those are the ones that need the certification and training far more than somebody who does it every single day. Those are the types of customers I’ve had the last couple of years.

Way back in 1970 the department of labor came out with the OSHA act that said everybody has to be trained to recognize the hazards associated with their particular field. The issue was, back then, they knew that there were going to be a lot of new tasks coming up, a lot of new jobs coming up, and people had to be trained on how to do all that. So, if you were just trained on how to be a rigger, being trained means you’re qualified.

There is a new requirement that stipulates that riggers do need to be qualified, and they spelled it out a little clearer in the crane standard, but the problem is, you take a guy who’s working underneath the hook of a crane with a sling — that guy needs to be qualified and they spell it out in a couple of different laws. You take that same guy, and now he’s working underneath an excavator or backhoe. Same sling, still picking up a load, but now it’s on an excavator. Now it’s not so clearly spelled out how that he has to be qualified. He does – it is written in the law, but it’s just not as clear and not as easy to find. So, people just say, “well, it’s only a backhoe, how bad can it be?”

The problem is if you grab hold of a sling — take a wire rope sling, for instance — and you throw it on a hook, and you motion your finger up and the crane operator picks up the load… If the load comes off the ground and the sling didn’t break… everybody’s happy. No harm, no foul. But, if you didn’t know what the capacity of that sling was; if you didn’t know the capacity of the hook, or what the load weighed… if you didn’t know all those things and you were successful, you were only successful because there’s a design factor built into that sling that prevents it from just failing immediately. But failures do still happen. Slings break all the time – people overload them, they misuse them, they don’t know what it is they’re doing.

Generally speaking it’s in the hitching – how they actually connect it to the load. There are often capacity reductions, and/or additional stresses put on the sling that a layman wouldn’t see. Let’s say you take a two-leg sling – what we call a two-legged bridle – and you put it on a hook. You were going to pick up a piece of steel culvert and you were going to pick it up from both ends, with really big hooks on either end. You have to factor in the length of the sling, and the length of the culvert. Let’s just say, for sake of analogy, that both ends of the sling just barely fit – the hooks just barely fit into the ends of the piece of culvert, so that the wire rope sling is very very close to the culvert all the way across the top, and when you pick it up, it’s a triangle, but it’s a very, very small triangle, and the hook itself is maybe a couple feet off the top of the culvert. That triangle is called a sling angle, and the closer that sling angle is to horizontal, the more stress is being introduced into the sling. That culvert weighs 1000 pounds. And you and I think that two 500 pound slings is going to do the job, because, hey, that’s half the load times two. But what happens is, at 30 degrees, that sling angle actually creates 1000 pounds of stress on each sling. And it’s not anything that you can see – you just need to be trained to know the stress that that angle introduces to the sling.

So what happens is, a guy grabs a sling that’s cleared for 500 pounds, he rigs it that way, makes the lift, and nothing happens. Well, nothing happens because there’s a design factor, a safety factor, built into that sling. And this guy keeps doing it, and doing it, and doing it, and every single time he’s done this he’s overloaded that sling. It’s like taking a paper clip and bending it back-and-forth – if you keep bending a paper clip back-and-forth enough, eventually it’s going to break. Certainly that sling is going to do the same thing. And then when that happens, and OSHA comes out, the very first thing that the rigger says is “I didn’t overload the sling, it was rated for 500 pounds and the load was only 1000 pounds and I had two slings.” And truth be told, he overloaded it a bunch of times, he just didn’t know it.

Watching the videos you helped us with, it seems that wire ropes are far more complex than most people realize; with different materials and different methods of construction – each suitable for different purposes. And rigging is very technical, like a combination of geometry and physics – you can’t really be a dummy and safely operate a crane or be a rigger. It really highlights the importance of proper training. How much training would you say that somebody really needs to be competent?

Generally, I have an 8 hour basic rigging safety program that introduces riggers to sling angle, to sling stresses and how they affect lifting. And I do training from that 8 hour course up to a 40 hour course which is an advanced rigging program. But there’s two problems with that. First, you can’t teach experience. And the other thing with sling angles is that you’re right, it’s physics, it’s geometry, and it’s trigonometry, because it’s the study of angles. You can’t be a dummy. I get guys that get really upset all the time at me when I start out our rigging class by handing out calculators. And they’re like “wait a minute, we thought this was a rigging class.” They want to know why they have to do math and my favorite answer is: “well, because you want to try and defy gravity and gravity is a known force. To calculate that force you need a calculator.”

The biggest problem with rigging is that you learn how to move the levers, and you manipulate the crane, and usually nothing bad happens. Why wouldn’t you think everything is ok? Truth is, you could have been within pounds of a catastrophic failure, but there is no way to physically see that. And it’s not until something does happen that people understand it could have happened years ago.

Check out a sample from our Wire Rope Safety and Operation course (above). Our Wire Rope Basics and award-winning Crane and Hoist Rigging Safety course can also be previewed on our website.

A portion of our work involves performing testing and accident investigation for numerous clients. When we have needed special wire rope fabrication and proof or ultimate break testing, we have decided to call on WCWR as the provider for these operations. Whether we needed to test stainless steel, galvanized, or bright wire rope assemblies, we have willingly put our reputation on the line alongside the professional work provided by WCWR. Their investment in fabrication equipment and their exceptional attention to maintenance and quality control is among the highest in their industry. West Coast delivers on their promises and have always ensured that their technical expertise accompanies each order. Besides delivering quality assemblies, they can be counted on for immediate, quality assistance in solving field problems or unexpected challenges.

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