Red-Tag It: Rigging Gear That Should Never Make the Lift

By Michael StormantMay 31, 2026Updated Oct 13, 202618 min read

Sling rejection criteria, in one line: take a sling or any piece of rigging hardware out of service the moment its tag is missing or unreadable, or it shows cuts, burns, broken wires, kinks, stretch, cracks, heat damage, distortion or wear past the limits in the table below. OSHA has no “light-duty” category for damaged gear: 29 CFR 1926.251 and 1910.184 both say defective rigging comes out of service. The table gives every limit by gear type with its source, the sections after it show what each defect looks like in the field, and the printable red-tag checklist puts the whole routine on two pages.

Sling Rejection Criteria by Gear Type

Work to the strictest line that applies. Where OSHA’s rule and the ASME standard print different numbers, both are shown, and the stricter one is the one to use. Manufacturer limits apply on top when they are tighter.

Download the Rigging Red-Tag Checklist (PDF)

Page one is a pre-use check by gear type. Page two is the tag-out procedure, a removal log and a cut-out red tag. Print it, keep it in the gang box, and make it the way your crew pulls gear.

The Cheapest Thing on the Job Is a New Sling

Walk any laydown yard and you’ll find it: a web sling with a gouged face draped over a rail, waiting for somebody in a hurry to grab it. Rigging is the cheapest equipment on the project and the first thing to fail when it’s abused. The crane can be perfect — inspections current, operator certified — and the load still ends up on the ground because the sling between the hook and the steel let go.

OSHA doesn’t treat this as opinion. 29 CFR 1926.251 requires rigging equipment to be inspected prior to use on each shift, and as necessary during use, and it says defective rigging shall be removed from service. Not demoted to light picks. Not hung back on the rack for tomorrow. Removed.

That’s the whole point of a red-tag culture. The rigging gear inspection criteria below aren’t test trivia — they’re the line between a routine pick and a dropped load. They’re the same criteria we apply when we run a formal rigging gear inspection on a customer’s sling locker, and the same ones we drill into riggers at our Goldsboro, NC yard and on jobsites nationwide. Learn them, and use them every shift.

Synthetic Sling Rejection Criteria: Easy to Kill, Easy to Read

Nylon and polyester slings die fast because everything on a jobsite is sharper, hotter, and rougher than they are. The upside is that the damage shows, if you actually look. Knowing when to reject a sling is rarely a judgment call — it’s a checklist, and one strike means scrap:

• Missing or unreadable tag. No tag means no rated capacity, no material, no history. An unidentified sling never makes the lift. This is the easiest rejection there is, and the most ignored.
• Cuts, tears, snags, and holes. Anywhere on the body, any depth that breaks face yarns. Edge loading over unprotected steel is the classic killer — a slice you can barely see can take strength you badly need.
• Melting, charring, and weld spatter. Synthetics and hot work don’t mix. Hard, glazed, or fused spots mean the fibers underneath are already gone, and OSHA caps nylon and polyester web slings at 180°F in service.
• Chemical attack. Acid and caustic exposure shows up as stiff, brittle, discolored, or flaking webbing. OSHA keeps nylon away from acids and phenolics and polyester away from caustics for exactly this reason.
• Broken or worn stitching. The stitch pattern is the load path holding the eyes and splices together. Pulled or abraded stitching ends the conversation.
• Knots. A knot is not a hitch. A knotted sling gets rejected even if the knot comes out, because the fibers have already been damaged where it cinched.
• UV degradation. Bleached, stiff, fuzzy webbing that has lived on a headache rack in the sun has lost strength you can’t measure in the field.

Roundslings add one automatic of their own: exposed core yarns. The cover is sacrificial. The moment you can see core fiber through a cut, burn, snag or weld spatter, that sling is done. OSHA’s sling rules don’t cover roundslings at all, so their criteria come from ASME B30.9 by way of OSHA’s sling guidance: also reject for broken or damaged core yarns, knots in the body, and discolored, brittle or stiff areas.

Wire Rope: Count Broken Wires, Feel for Kinks

Wire rope hides its condition better than synthetics, which is why the sling rejection rules here get numeric. Under OSHA’s sling standard, 29 CFR 1910.184, and ASME B30.9, a wire rope sling comes out of service at ten randomly distributed broken wires in one rope lay, or five broken wires in one strand in one rope lay. Multi-part slings get their own counts in OSHA’s ASME-based guidance: 20 broken wires per lay for cable-laid slings, 20 per braid for six-part braided slings, and 40 per braid for eight-part braided. On construction work, 29 CFR 1926.251 adds its own count: the rope is done if, in any length of eight rope diameters, visible broken wires exceed 10 percent of the total wires. You find them by running a gloved hand down the rope — broken wires snag the glove before your eyes ever pick them up. Never a bare hand: OSHA’s guidance warns that broken wires can puncture it.

Broken wires aren’t the only condemning condition. Pull a wire rope sling for any of these:

• Kinks. A kink permanently displaces the strands. It never works itself out, and the rope is never full strength again.
• Crushing and flattening. Run over by equipment or pinched under a load, a crushed section can’t share load across its strands.
• Birdcaging. Strands sprung open like a cage from shock loading or torsion. Done.
• Core protrusion. If the core is pushing out between the strands, the rope’s structure has already failed.
• Heat damage. Discoloration, bluing, or arc strikes cook the lubricant and the steel both. Fiber-core rope is permanently removed after exposure above 200°F under OSHA’s rule; the ASME-based guidance uses 180°F.
• Corrosion. Surface rust is a warning. Pitting is a rejection.
• Worn outer wires. Wear or scraping that has taken one-third of the original diameter of the outside wires condemns the sling.
• Damaged end attachments. Cracked, deformed, or worn fittings and splices condemn the whole assembly, no matter how good the rope looks.

Chain: Stretch Is the Quiet Killer

Start with the basics: only alloy steel chain belongs in overhead lifting. For chain, OSHA’s sling rules cover alloy steel chain slings only, Grade 80 and Grade 100 are the common grades, and EM 385-1-1 (2024) allows nothing below Grade 80 on Corps work. Transport chain off the parts-store shelf has no business under a crane hook. From there, chain fails differently than rope. It rarely frays or fuzzes; it stretches, wears, and cracks, and all three hide under a layer of jobsite grime.

• Stretch. Overloading elongates links before it breaks them. Links that bind against each other instead of hinging freely, or a sling that measures longer than its tagged reach, are telling you the chain has yielded. Reject it.
• Wear. Links wear where they bear on each other. OSHA’s tables set the floor: on 1/2-inch chain, the sling comes out when any point of a link measures under 25/64 inch (1910.184 Table N-184-1; 1926.251 Table H-1 allows 7/64 inch of wear). Check it with a caliper, not a glance, and use the manufacturer’s limit if it’s tighter.
• Nicks, gouges, and cracks. Any crack is terminal. Gouges concentrate stress exactly where the link can least afford it.
• Bent or twisted links. A link that has been side-loaded around a corner is a link that no longer carries load the way it was designed to.
• Heat. Weld spatter, torch contact, and service beyond rated temperatures quietly erase an alloy chain’s rating. OSHA requires permanent removal of any alloy chain sling heated above 1,000°F.

And never repair chain in the field. A bolt through two links is not a coupling, and a homemade fix turns one bad link into a whole bad sling. Repairs go back to the manufacturer or an equivalent entity and get proof tested before the sling returns to service, or the chain gets cut up.

Hooks and Shackles: Hardware Tells on Itself

Hardware fails small before it fails big, and the numbers are specific. The current ASME hook standard, B30.10, takes a hook out of service when distortion has opened the throat 5 percent or 1/4 inch, whichever is less (or the manufacturer’s limit), or when it shows any visible bend or twist out of plane. OSHA’s general-industry sling rule, 29 CFR 1910.184, still prints the older limits of 15 percent and 10 degrees; work to the stricter ASME numbers. EM 385-1-1 (2024) prints the same limits as ASME for Corps work: wear over 10 percent, a 5 percent throat increase up to 1/4 inch, or any visible bend or twist. A sprung throat means the hook has been tip-loaded or overloaded — it’s already telling you the story, and the next chapter is a dropped load. Also pull hooks for cracks, nicks, or gouges, especially in the saddle where the load bears, and for wear in the saddle beyond ten percent of the original section. You can only see a 5 percent throat change against a baseline, so record the throat dimension when a hook goes into service, or use the manufacturer’s gauge marks if it has them.

And don’t forgive a dead latch. If the application calls for a latched hook and the latch won’t snap shut and seat, the hook is out until it’s fixed.

Shackles follow the same logic under ASME B30.26, the rigging hardware standard:

• No legible markings. The manufacturer’s name and the working load limit have to be readable on the bow. Unmarked hardware doesn’t lift.
• A spread or closed bow. Ears pulled toward each other or pushed apart mean the body has yielded under load. So does any bend, twist or elongation.
• Pin problems. A pin that won’t seat flush or thread all the way home is a rejection — incomplete pin engagement and damaged threads both fail — and a bolt is never, ever a pin substitute.
• Wear beyond 10 percent of the original or catalog dimension, anywhere on the body or the pin.
• Heat and welding. Weld spatter, arc strikes, or any welding the manufacturer didn’t authorize take the shackle out.

Below the Hook Counts Too

Spreader bars, lifting beams, plate clamps, drum grabs, pallet lifters — everything that hangs between the hook and the load is rigging, and ASME B30.20 treats these as engineered devices with their own marking and inspection requirements. Custom grabs, hooks, clamps and similar lifting accessories also have to be marked with their safe working load and proof tested to 125 percent of their rated load before use under 29 CFR 1926.251(a)(4). The habit transfers straight over: find a legible rated load first, then go hunting for damage. Their weight also counts against the crane, which is why a written lift plan lists every lifting beam, sling and shackle.

• Cracked welds and bent members. Sight down every chord of a beam or spreader. A bow you can see is a rejection you can defend.
• Worn or polished clamp teeth. A plate clamp holds with tooth bite. Slick teeth drop plate, usually at the worst possible height.
• Frozen or sloppy bails, swivels, and pins. Articulating parts that don’t articulate are absorbing loads they weren’t designed for.
• Missing capacity markings. Same rule as a sling tag: unmarked means unidentified, and unidentified doesn’t fly.

Because these are engineered devices, field repair is off the table — a bent spreader goes back to the manufacturer or a qualified engineer, not to the welder with the steadiest hand. We cover how these get inspected and documented on our below-the-hook lifting devices page.

How to Red-Tag Rigging Gear, Step by Step

1. Stop it at the defect. The gear doesn’t go on the load, not even for a light pick. 29 CFR 1926.251(a)(1) says defective rigging is removed from service, and 1910.184(d) says damaged slings come out immediately.
2. Tag it where the damage is. A red DO NOT USE tag at the defect, with the defect, the date and your name, so the next person sees why.
3. Get it off the rack. Quarantine it in a marked bin or locked box away from serviceable gear. A tagged sling hanging next to good ones gets grabbed.
4. Log it. Gear ID, defect, date, and who pulled it. OSHA already requires a record of each alloy chain sling’s most recent periodic inspection, and on USACE work EM 385-1-1 (2024) requires documented periodic inspections of all rigging, kept on site.
5. Replace it before the next pick, and check the replacement’s tag against the hitch and angle you’re rigging.
6. Destroy it or send it out. Cut rejected slings so they can’t crawl back onto the rack. Repairs go only to the manufacturer or an equivalent entity: repaired synthetic web slings must be proof tested to twice their rated capacity before reuse, repaired or reconditioned fiber rope slings are prohibited outright, and the rope in a wire rope sling isn’t repaired at all — only its end attachments and fittings.

Make Rejection a Habit, and Put a Qualified Person on It

Criteria only work with a cadence behind them. The floor is 1926.251: rigging is inspected before use on every shift and as necessary during use, and slings and their fittings get that look each day from a competent person designated by the employer. Above that sits the periodic inspection — for alloy chain slings, OSHA requires it at least every 12 months with a record (1926.251(b)(6)), and the ASME-based guidance OSHA publishes sets it yearly for normal service and monthly to quarterly for severe service across every sling type.

On federal contracts that invoke EM 385-1-1, check the edition your contract cites. The 2024 edition’s Chapter 15 (Rigging) has a qualified rigger inspect all rigging and rigging hardware before use on each shift, requires a documented periodic inspection at least annually with the record available on site, pulls any gear whose markings become illegible, and treats painted rigging hardware as a dangerous condition unless the manufacturer approves the paint. Federal work means tighter paper, not looser — our EM 385-1-1 crane training covers it.

This is where the qualified person duty gets real. OSHA also requires a qualified rigger during crane assembly and disassembly under 29 CFR 1926.1404, and whenever workers are in the fall zone hooking, unhooking, or guiding a load (29 CFR 1926.1425(c)). A rigger who can recite sling rejection rules and apply them with the crane waiting is exactly what our qualified rigger training builds — and an NCCCO Certified Rigger credential is one way to document it, valid for five years like every NCCCO certification before recertification comes due. New hands start with basic rigging training, and the angle math that decides which sling to grab lives in our sling angle formula guide. For the full lineup of classes, from basic rigging to qualified rigger and signal person, see our rigging training overview.

Two habits seal the deal. First, destroy what you reject: cut rejected slings so they can’t crawl back onto the rack overnight. Second, when the locker has gotten away from you, schedule a third-party rigging gear inspection and reset the baseline in one day.

We’ve trained crews for more than 1,000 companies from our founder-led shop — classroom and NCCCO testing in Goldsboro, NC, hands-on iron at our partner yard, and employer-based training on your site anywhere in the country or OCONUS. Reach out online or call (252) 274-0583 and we’ll get your riggers reading gear the same way every time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does OSHA actually require for rigging gear inspection?

29 CFR 1926.251 requires rigging equipment for material handling to be inspected prior to use on each shift, and as necessary during use, with defective equipment removed from service. Slings and all their fastenings and attachments are inspected each day before use by a competent person designated by the employer (1926.251(a)(6); 1910.184(d)). 29 CFR 1910.184 spells out removal criteria by sling type — alloy chain, wire rope, metal mesh, fiber rope and synthetic web — and OSHA’s sling guidance, built on ASME B30.9, adds roundslings. A periodic inspection comes on top of that: yearly for normal service and monthly to quarterly for severe service under the ASME-based guidance, and for alloy steel chain slings OSHA makes it mandatory, at least every 12 months, with a record of the most recent inspection (1910.184(e)(3); 1926.251(b)(6)).

How many broken wires take a wire rope sling out of service?

For a strand-laid or single-part wire rope sling: ten randomly distributed broken wires in one rope lay, or five broken wires in one strand in one rope lay (1910.184(f)(5)). On construction work, 1926.251(c)(4)(iv) adds a second test: the rope is done if, in any length of eight rope diameters, visible broken wires exceed 10 percent of the total wires. OSHA’s ASME-based guidance gives higher counts for multi-part constructions: 20 per lay for cable-laid slings, 20 per braid for six-part braided, and 40 per braid for eight-part braided. Broken wires are only one trigger — kinking, crushing, birdcaging, heat damage, corrosion, worn outer wires, and cracked or deformed end attachments each condemn the sling on their own.

When does a hook have to come out of service?

Under ASME B30.10, when the throat has opened more than 5 percent (no more than 1/4 inch) or past the manufacturer’s limit, when it shows any visible bend or twist out of plane, when wear exceeds 10 percent of the original section, or when it has cracks, nicks or gouges. EM 385-1-1 (2024) prints the same throat, twist and wear limits. OSHA’s general-industry sling rule, 1910.184, still uses the older 15 percent throat and 10-degree twist limits; work to the stricter numbers, and keep a baseline throat measurement so you can actually see a 5 percent change.

Can a damaged sling be repaired instead of replaced?

Not in the field, and never with improvised fixes. Knots, bolts through chain links, and homemade splices are all automatic rejections. Repairs belong to the manufacturer or an equivalent entity: repaired synthetic web slings are proof tested to twice their rated capacity before going back to work, repaired alloy chain slings are proof tested too, and OSHA prohibits repaired or reconditioned fiber rope slings outright. For most web slings the honest answer is that replacement costs less than the time spent debating it. Red-tag the gear, cut it so it can’t return to service, and move on.

Who counts as the qualified person for rigging inspections?

OSHA’s sling rules call for a competent person designated by the employer to inspect slings each day before use. OSHA’s sling guidance recommends a qualified person: someone who, by a recognized degree, certificate or professional standing, or by extensive knowledge, training and experience, has demonstrated the ability to solve problems related to the work. On USACE work, EM 385-1-1 (2024) requires a qualified rigger for both the shift and the periodic inspections. In practice that means a person who knows the rejection criteria for every gear type in the locker and has the standing to pull gear without argument. Formal qualified rigger training plus an NCCCO Certified Rigger credential is one clean way to document that competence for an auditor or a general contractor.

What goes on a rigging red tag?

At minimum: DO NOT USE, what the item is or its ID, the defect, the date, and the name of the person who pulled it. Hang the tag at the defect, move the gear to quarantine away from serviceable rigging, log it, and then destroy it or send it to the manufacturer or a qualified repair source. Our printable checklist includes a cut-out tag and a removal log.

Authoritative References

• OSHA 29 CFR 1926.251 — rigging equipment for material handling: shift inspection, markings, chain wear (Table H-1), and wire rope limits.
• OSHA 29 CFR 1910.184 — slings: removal criteria for alloy chain, wire rope, metal mesh, fiber rope and synthetic web slings.
• OSHA Guidance on Safe Sling Use — inspection items by sling type, including roundslings, drawn from OSHA’s standards and ASME B30.9.
• ASME B30.9 Slings — sling inspection and removal criteria (current edition 2025).
• ASME B30.10 Hooks — hook inspection and removal criteria (current edition 2024).
• ASME B30.26 Rigging Hardware — shackles, links, rings, swivels and other detachable hardware (current edition 2026).
• ASME B30.20 Below-the-Hook Lifting Devices — marking and inspection of lifting beams, spreaders and clamps (current edition 2025).
• USACE EM 385-1-1 (2024) — Chapter 15, Rigging: qualified rigger inspections, records and hook limits; use the edition your contract cites.