Chains, Slings and Shackles: GA1 Requirements for Lifting Accessories

The smallest items on a lifting job carry the whole load — and they are the items most often found out of date. Lifting accessories need a GA1 thorough examination at least every 6 months, the same interval as equipment that lifts people, and for the same reason: when they fail, they fail completely.

What counts as a lifting accessory?

Anything used to attach the load to the lifting machine:

• Chain slings, wire rope slings and webbing/roundslings
• Shackles, hooks, master links and connecting links
• Eyebolts, lifting points and swivels
• Spreader beams and lifting beams
• Plate clamps, drum lifters, pallet hooks and similar below-the-hook devices

If it sits between the crane hook and the load, it is almost certainly in scope. A common blind spot: accessories that live with a machine — the chains on a digger bucket lifting point, the brick grab on a telehandler — need their own 6-monthly examination even when the machine itself is 12-monthly.

What the examination covers

Chain slings — measured for stretch link by link, checked for wear at bearing points, nicks, gouges, cracks and heat damage; hooks checked for throat opening and latch function.

Wire rope slings — broken wires, kinking, birdcaging, crushing, corrosion and wear at ferrules and eyes.

Webbing and roundslings — cuts, abrasion, chemical or UV damage, damaged stitching, and legible labels. A textile sling with no readable label fails: with no identifiable working load limit, it cannot be used.

Shackles, eyebolts and fittings — wear, distortion, correct pins (never a bolt through a shackle), thread condition, and markings.

Every accessory must carry an identification mark and its working load limit. Unmarked gear cannot be examined against anything, and the correct outcome is removal from service.

Colour coding: the system that makes 6 months manageable

Most yards with a lot of tackle use a colour-code system: each 6-month inspection period is assigned a colour, and every accessory that passes gets a tag or cable tie in that colour. Anyone on the ground can see at a glance whether a sling is in date — no register consultation at the hook. It only works with discipline: one person owns the current colour, out-of-colour gear is quarantined immediately, and the scheme is displayed where tackle is stored.

Storage is half the battle

More accessories are condemned for how they are kept than how they are used. Chains dumped in puddles corrode; webbing slings left on a dashboard degrade in sunlight; slings used to drag loads across the ground arrive at inspection pre-destroyed. Hang tackle on racks, off the ground, under cover — the difference at examination time is dramatic, and so is the replacement bill.

Failed gear leaves the site

An accessory that fails examination is not a repair-when-convenient item. Cut up or clearly quarantine condemned slings — a condemned chain sling that stays on the rack will be used by somebody. Our reports list every item by its ID mark so there is never doubt about which sling passed and which did not.

One visit for the whole rack

L&M Plant & Inspection Services Ltd. examines all lifting accessories — chain, wire rope, textile and below-the-hook gear — tags what passes, quarantines what doesn't, and issues itemised GA1 reports on completion. Call 083 870 5355 to book.