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Posted By Jon Thompson
On our construction sites Polypropylene rope (typically 12mm & 16mm) is used to lift small loads. For manual raising of the load the weight is restricted to 25Kg. For 16mm rope, used with winches/capstans, the weight is limited to 300Kg - well within the nominal breaking load of the rope. New rope is issued to each contract and readily replaced as requested when daily inspections by experienced operators identify the start of deterioration of the rope. "Old" rope is taken off site and destroyed.
The rope is subject to the Thorough Examinations, but not the "Period Colour Coding" as is our other lifting equipment. Similarly, Polyprop rope is not marked with a SWL.
Although not compliant with the letter of LOLER, it is argued by Site Operations that the limits and inspection routine constitute a safe systems of work.
I would welcome comments from those of you with practical experience of this issue.
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Posted By Berg
Jon
Instead of colour coding LOLER ACOP Reg 7 suggests using tags which can also display the SWL.
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Posted By Ken Dickson
Jon,
What you are doing does make sense, and does form the basis of a safe system of working. However, if a rope fails in service you won't have a leg to stand on. It is also worth asking the inspector what he is inspecting the rope against. They should not include anything that does not have a SWL in their inspections.
Ken
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Posted By William
Personally i only ever use ropes to take lifting equipment such as chain blocks, beam clamps or slings up a scaffold or ladder as it is safer than putting it on your shoulder, but i would never use rope for any other purpose than this, as Ken said you would not have a leg to stand on if it failed, the other problem with rope is that it is more vulnerable than using a wire as chemicals would easily make it weaker, this is also true for slings but they should be dumped if contaminated.
You also have to consider the factor of safety (the relationship between the SWL and breaking point of rope) for the ropes it should be 5 to 1, as you need to consider shock loading which can cause the weight on the load on the rope to increase as much as 5 times (should never happen onshore, but you never know)also what is your criteria for deciding whether a rope is fit or unfit for use? If you are using a wire rope then the random wires in one lay length should not exceed 6, or in one strand exceed 3, and so on.
On the other hand abseilers will only use the rope so many times and dump it no matter what condition it is in, but i myself would never use rope for other than what i have described.
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Posted By Mark Eastbourne
I would certainly try to have some sort of checking criteria and identify the rope which has been checked and also prove that the persons checking are competent to do so. I know this may be over kill but in the event of an incident the question may be asked.
Regards the 25kg limit, maybe I misunderstood, but does this mean that anyone must be able to lift this load as I thought it depended on individual, TILE etc?
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