Posted By Steve Crookes Hi, Could you please explain, do you mean 10 strops and 10 shackles all with different SWL? All strops and shackles, indeed all lifting equipment should come with a certificate giving ident no & swl. In the event that you do not have this certificate & the ident no has become obliterated-especially where strops are concerned-you have 2 options. Get all equipment load tested & certified, or purchase new shackles and strops. The latter being the cheapest option. Examination, inspection & record keeping. All our small lifting equipment is examined 6 monthly by an insurance man (as per LOWLER)Handy, because the insurance company insist on it & provide a competent person to do it.Inspections should be carried out weekly & before use. This includeschecking SWL. We also place our own company ident labels/stamps on equipment to facilitate record keeping, but the equipments own ident that can be cross checked against the original test certificate should be kept in place. ( I know this is hard on strops, but we do try.) We keep the insurance inspection reports as a record of lifting equipment as it contains every item and identifies it. It also identifies items withdrawn from service & replaced. This record and the original test certs are the only records we keep. This may not be as thorough as some, but I believe it is adequate? Comments invited.

Posted By STEVE HI NICKI IAGREE WITH STEVE C.IN EVERYTHING HE HAS SAID,IF THIS IS THE ONLY EQUIPMENT YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT AND IT HAS ONLY THE SWL STAMPED ON IT I WOULD BE VERY RELUCTANT TO USE IT AS A QUALIFIED RIGGER. I WOULD SUGGEST YOU DUMP IT AND START AFRESH, WHERE HAS THIS EQUIPMENT COME FROM TO BE SO POORLY MARKED. THE COST OF THIS TYPE OF LIFTING EQUIPMENT IS VERY REASONABLE NOW,WHY TAKE THE RISK. YOU SEEM TO BE DOING YOUR SIDE OF THE JOB,BY ASKING HOW TO KEEP A RECORD OF EQUIPMENT ,ITS MAINTENANCE AND LIFE SPAN BUT I WORRY THAT IT IS YOU WHO HAS MADE THESE ENQUIRYS AND NOT THE COMPETANT PERSON WHO IS USING THE EQUIPMENT,WHEN IT SHOULD OF BEEN BROUGHT TO YOUR ATTENTON BY THEM. THIS THEN BRINGS OTHER FACTORS INTO THE ENQUIRY,LIKE WHY HASNT THE PERSON USING THE GEAR NOT NOTICED THAT IT HASNT GOT A LAST DATE IT WAS CHECKED ON IT. WHILST YOU NEED TO KEEP MAINTENANCE RECORDS ON LIFTING GEAR,IT IS ALSO THE PERSONS USING IT TO MAKE SURE IT IS FIT FOR USE,CHECKING TAGS, VISUAL CHECK OF EQUIPMENT, DOES IT HVE THE RIGHT SWL FOR THE TASK ETC. SLINGS DETERIATE IN DIFFERENT WORKING CONDITIONS AND SUBSTANCES. HOPE THIS IS OF USE TO YOU FOR THE MOMENT,IF YOU NEED ANY MORE INFO PLEASE GET IN TOUCH. STEVE.