WEBBING SLING OR LIFTING BELT – SELECTION, IDENTIFICATION AND INSPECTION

INTRODUCTION

In our day-to-day life, we will come across a number of material handling items, from a small twine to huge cranes. In our construction sites we use material handling items like webbing sling (or Lifting belt), D-shackle, wire rope sling, manila rope, turn buckles etc. How much we are familiar with such common material handling items?

It is sure that, before any lifting, the common question will arise in our mind “Will the item used for lifting is sufficient for handling the load?” Usually lifting happens as a “lucky trial”. Mostly it becomes successful, but the failure causes loss/injury to human life and damage to lifted items.

SWL and WLL

There are two terms we usually come across when dealing with lifting items. They are Safe Working Load (SWL) and Working Load Limit (WLL).

SWL sometimes stated as the Normal Working Load (NWL) is the load that a piece of lifting equipment, lifting device or accessory can safely lift, suspend, or lower without fear of breaking.

U.S. Engineering Standards, as well as European and ISO Standards no longer use the term Safe Working Load or SWL, officially. They are using the term Working Load Limit (WLL). A simple definition of Working Load Limit is the maximum load that includes mass or force, that should ever be applied to load carrying equipment in a specified configuration or application. The load carrying equipment manufacturer calculates the WLL of their product. So Working Load Limit (WLL), is the maximum working load designed by the manufacturer. Working load limits are calculated on straight line pulls only. Never side load. Other conditions such as extreme temperatures, chemicals solutions or spills, vapors, or immersion in salt water can reduce the Working Load Limit. 

WEBBING SLING or LIFTING BELT

Webbing sling or Lifting belt is a common material handing item used in the industry. Lifting belt is made from polyester or fabric material.

SELECTION

Lifting belt is selected based on the load to be lifted. Length for the lift can be adjusted using multiple belts. Belt contact area should not contain sharp edges.

IDENTIFICATION

The belts can be identified based on the colour as given in the table below. The load lifting capacity of different method of lifting arrangement of the belts can also be found from the table.

WLL	Colour Code	Width (mm)	Vertical Straight Lift	Choked Lift	Basket	Basket 450	Basket 900
			1	X 0.8	X 2	X 1.8	X 1.4
1T	Violet	25/30/50	1	0.8	2	1.8	1.4
2T	Green	56/60	2	1.6	4	3.6	2.8
3T	Yellow	75/90	3	2.4	6	5.4	4.2
4T	Grey	100/120	4	3.2	8	7.2	5.6
5T	Red	125/150	5	4	10	9	7
6T	Brown	150/180	6	4.8	12	10.8	8.4
8T	Blue	200/240	8	6.4	16	14.4	11.2
10T	Orange	250/300	10	8	20	18	14
12T	Orange	300	12	9.6	24	21.6	16.8
15T	Orange	300	15	12	30	27	21
16T	Orange	300	16	12.8	32	28.8	22.4
18T	Orange	300	18	14.4	36	32.4	25.2
20T	Orange	300	20	16	40	36	28

The other easiest way of identifying the tonnage of the belt is by counting the black stitches along the width of the belt. 

Eg:

5 stitches indicates 5T

3 stitches indicates 3T

Other details will be given in the label attached to the belt.

                                   

INSPECTION

Before using of the belt for any lifting purpose the following are to be inspected

1.       Whether the correct belt is used?

a.       Check the load to be lifted.

b.      Check whether the belt is of correct tonnage.

2.       Whether the belt is having any damage?

a.       Check for any wear and tear.

b.      Check the eye of the belt for any ‘cut’ in the belt.

c.       Check whether any damage to the stitching in the belt.

d.      Belts wetted with water, oil etc should not be used.

3.       Whether it is properly hooked with the material to be lifted?

a.       Sharp edges in contact with the belt to be avoided.

b.      Belt to be positioned considering the Center of gravity of the material to be lifted.