Rigging Basics and the Qualified Rigger

Rigging is how you connect a load to the hook so it lifts level, stays put, and comes down where you want it. Get it right and the lift is boring. Get it wrong and a load drops, swings into someone, or tips the crane. Most rigging failures trace back to three things: gear that should have been pulled out of service, a load nobody weighed, or people who didn't know what they were doing under the hook.

Rigging gear is covered by OSHA 29 CFR 1926.251, and crane lifts add Subpart CC (1926.1400 and on). The rules come down to a few habits: inspect before you use it, never load past the rating, and put a qualified person on the rigging.

The rules that govern rigging

Every piece of rigging has a rated capacity — the working load limit the maker set. That number is the ceiling, and you never go over it. Under 1926.251:

Inspect rigging before use on each shift, and again during the shift as conditions change.
Pull defective or damaged gear out of service immediately — don't hang it back on the rack.
Never load a sling, shackle, or hook past its rated capacity.
Every sling carries a durable, legible identification tag with its rated capacity and type. No tag, no lift — set it aside.

Rated capacities are printed for a reason. A sling's capacity also changes with how you rig it — the angle and the hitch — which the later talks cover.

Who is a qualified rigger

A qualified rigger isn't just whoever's standing closest to the hook. OSHA defines one as a person who, through a degree, certificate, or extensive knowledge, training, and experience, can solve problems related to the specific rigging in front of them. They know how to pick slings, read a load, figure the angles, and protect the gear from edges.

Subpart CC requires a qualified rigger in specific moments — during assembly and disassembly when workers are in the fall zone, and whenever a worker in the fall zone is hooking, unhooking, or guiding a load, or doing the initial connection to a structure (1926.1425(c)). In those moments the person on the rigging must be qualified, not just available.

Before every lift

Whoever rigs the load owns these questions before it leaves the ground:

How much does it weigh, and is that inside the crane's and the rigging's rating?
Where's the center of gravity, and will it lift level?
Is the gear the right type, inspected, and protected from sharp edges?
Who's clear of the fall zone, and who's giving signals?

If any answer is a guess, stop and get it right. A rigging job is planned on the ground, not fixed in the air.

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