Block and Tackle Standards

Do any of you still use Rope Block and Tackle sets in an Industrial application? I don't mean wire rope, but nylon/hemp etc. in steel and sometimes wood blocks.

We use a few sets for lightweight loads like pulling a wooden crate shell off of a skidded machine, or pulling light loads out of deep crates to save our backs. We use chain-fall hoists for everything heavier than say 150lbs., but find the old rope block and tackle sets nice as they are as quick or slow as you want them to be and give "feedback" on the pull. The soft rope also doesn't damage the finish on machines.

What I'm wondering is what kind of safety standards and certifications apply to these things? The usual rules apply of not walking under an unsupported load, keeping them in good working order (any codes to follow on that?), and only lifting rated loads.

We're an old shop, but i wouldn't want to get fined for "old-school" ways.

The only shortcomings that your post may have indicated are inspection. You need to have someone designated as competent to inspect these items periodically. This can be yearly, as most of the places I work require but some want it twice a year.There should be an indication that this inspection took place, commonly a specific color of tie wrap applied at the inspection. It also must be inspected by the user, who should be trained in it's use and inspection, before each use. Put these practices in writing and enforce them. In event of a disaster OSHA will want to see these procedures and evidence that they are in use and enforced. Other than that I'd say you are good. You are using it as designed and within it's load rating. People trained ( document this!). Not much more you can do.

I imagine the rope would have to be rated. You can buy rated rope, it has colours woven into it and are synthetic only.

Rule of thumb for rope is diameter in mm squared = SWL in kg.

A few of our sets have built in brakes, but I personally prefer the one's that don't as they require you to keep the load under control at all times. I think most of our guys who use them have a little more respect for them than some of the more "rigid" lifts and hoists in our place. We haven't had many loads hit the ground (and no injuries fortunately), but the ones that did were mostly due to the employee not paying attention to what's going on, or assuming something was secure.

RC99 said:

I imagine the rope would have to be rated. You can buy rated rope, it has colours woven into it and are synthetic only.

Rule of thumb for rope is diameter in mm squared = SWL in kg.

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That's the base formula for old fashioned ropes like Manila or Sisal. Old world fibre ropes,.

It gets up to 2.25 times that for Nylon ropes. Polyester is 2.0 or double rating

machtool said:

That's the base formula for old fashioned ropes like Manila or Sisal. Old world fibre ropes,.

It gets up to 2.25 times that for Nylon ropes. Polyester is 2.0 or double rating

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Correct. OSHA doesn't do rules of thumb. Use the manufacturer's load rating. With rope be careful of exposure to chemicals.

Old Skewl natural vegetable fiber rope de-rates with AGE, and rather more rapidly than those who were never schooled on it might realize.

Half the strength lost every six months since freshly-made serves as a handy rule. Not good for much more than shock cushioning or tinder for fires for very long. Tarring it helped, but only so much.

Part of why it isn't so widely used any longer except where it gets "used up" so quickly that's it doesn't get the chance to grow old.

Seafarers have it in books. "Learning the ropes" is about more than just how they run, are tied, and what they do. It includes sensing age and condition by smell and feel. Lives are at risk.

Most any military, any country, will have it in manuals for their sappers, pioneers, or Engineers, and have had for hundreds of years. Public can buy those "Junior Woodchuck" manuals. Water-resistant, pocket-sized, right handy. Cordage has simple "cards", laminated, as well.

Synthetics? One really, really has to pay ATTENTION to what you have, who made it, what they list as its characteristics, even how it was laid or woven! Tons of variables!

Some are borderline magically strong, hellacious durable, others can degrade at scary rates from sunlight or exposure to acids, alkali, or solvents.

Arborists and mountain climbers use several different ropes. Yachtsmen, auto recovery, hunters hoisting game, school hanging swings for kids.. whole OTHER tribes.

And you wonder why we use chainfalls or steel cable?

Simpler. Greatly so!

..and.. oh by the way.. those don't last forever at their as-new rating, EITHER!

tdmidget said:

Correct. OSHA doesn't do rules of thumb. Use the manufacturer's load rating. With rope be careful of exposure to chemicals.

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Good thing R.C and I don't have OSHA. (We have a statutory body called (Workcover.) That will rip us a new arse.

Only people I know of that uses still rope and wooden blocks is the marine industry (due to corrosion resistance) and linemen (due to non-conductivity). I don't see why you couldn't use them in the shop, just make sure the tackle is weight rated for overhead lifting.

Give these guys a call. https://rwrope.com/marine-hardware/blocks-sheaves/wooden-blocks/

https://www.riggingwarehouse.com/cu... Sheave Wood Blocks for Manila Rope Specs.pdf

also found this one and down about 1/2 down there are technical specs and safety info. I googled vintage block and tackle.


I also checked Scribd and found this one

Block_and_Tackle_Basic Machines NAVEDTRA 1437 1994 | Mechanical Engineering | Manufactured Goods

I like being a detective :-)

Check out climbing supplies.

Our ropes are very flexible and at 1/2 to 9/16 diameter are rated maybe 5000 pounds.



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Tony Quiring said:

Check out climbing supplies.

Our ropes are very flexible and at 1/2 to 9/16 diameter are rated maybe 5000 pounds.



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

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That's probably a breaking strength, which is different from the "working load limit".

My dad was recently complaining about the poor quality of manilla rope you can buy at hardware stores. He was using it with a block and tackle to stretch fence wire.

I let him a 3/4 ton CM come along. The good one that uses chain, not cable. I doubt I'll see it again. I also doubt he'll ever worry about rope again.

ewlsey said:

My dad was recently complaining about the poor quality of manilla rope you can buy at hardware stores. He was using it with a block and tackle to stretch fence wire.

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It was probably already aged to half strength just on the shelf. Maybe less. Low-turnover item once away from the smell of salt air.

Among the few places it still has value?

Star Ferry, Hong Kong. Ride it often enough you notice a crewman cutting off the loop of a mooring line, adroitely splicing in a fresh loop further back up the coil.

They wear-out several per-day, per ferry. By definition, their own arrival has generated waves that abrade the mooring lines on the posts. Poly wouldn't last any longer - just cost more. Some of it is not as good as manila/hemp for abrasion-resistance anyway. Chain or cable lack the built-in resilience they need.

Old-style cordage still serves where it works.

I do NOT see industrial hoisting as one of those places, and would not use it for that, "standards" or otherwise.

thermite said:

I do NOT see industrial hoisting as one of those places, and would not use it for that, "standards" or otherwise.

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Yup, someones got to hold the line, the whole time the load is airborn.....
Max Webster - Let go the line - YouTube

"I gotta pee !"

There should be no issue in using rope, block, and tackle. The two things that are required are training and inspection. As far as standards, in the US it would be ASME B30.26 for block and tackle and ASME B30.30 for rope*.

I don't have copies of B30.30 or B30.9, but here are some key points from B30.26:

1) 4:1 safety factor
2) wood is okay for the shell/side plates, but metal or synthetic for the sheaves**
3) blocks marked with manufacturer, rated load, and rope size
4) visual inspection before use each shift (no written records required)
5) periodic inspection at least once a year***. B30.26 doesn't require written records, but OSHA will want to see something.

*B30.30 is a new standard, should be published before the end of the year. Rope is currently sort-of covered in B30.9.
** you can use wood sheaved blocks, but you're falling back on "recommendations of the manufacturer or a qualified person"
*** removal criteria:
(a) missing or illegible identification
(b) misalignment or wobble in sheaves
(c) excessive sheave groove corrugation or wear
(d) loose or missing nuts, bolts, cotter pins, snap
rings, or other fasteners and retaining devices
(e) indications of heat damage, including weld spatter
or arc strikes
( f ) excessive pitting or corrosion
(g) bent, cracked, twisted, distorted, stretched, elongated,
or broken load bearing components
(h) excessive wear, nicks, or gouges
(i) a 10% reduction of the original or catalog dimension
at any point
(j) excessive damage to load bearing threads
(k) evidence of unauthorized welding or modifications
(l) for hooks, the removal criteria specified in B30.10
(m) for shackles, the removal criteria specified in B30.26
other conditions, including visible damage that
cause doubt as to the continued use of the rigging block

DanielG said:

B30.26 doesn't require written records, but OSHA will want to see something.

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A bit off topic but why are written records considered by bureaucracy to be like whatever religious text you approve of?

Anyone can tick and flick and say something was done when it really wasn't.

They can not really say it was not done when you have ticked a box saying it was.

Thanks for all the replies. I was a little concerned it would be one of those things that the whole system was "outlawed" by OSHA and we just never got the memo. But it sounds like as long as we keep track of age, condition, and load rating, we have a good start on it.

RC99 said:

A bit off topic but why are written records considered by bureaucracy to be like whatever religious text you approve of?

Anyone can tick and flick and say something was done when it really wasn't.

They can not really say it was not done when you have ticked a box saying it was.

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Kidding, right? Artificial world thing. They know no other existence.

Lawsters and Jurists can easily get like that at a very high level. Immersed in "the rule of law" they forget that sometimes the OTHER party is NOT so "immersed', then are shocked, surprised, and - sadly, in the news now and then - cut DOWN, right in their own Courthouse, when "law" has dropped back to coming at the point of a dagger or out of the muzzle of a gun for one individual, no "revolution" involved.

With cordage? Not a problem to riggers, farmers, seafarers, climbers, arborists, loggers, Combat Engineers who LIVE with them life-long, every day, have their various characteristics committed to memory, KNOW when they have to look something up, can tell by touch, feel, colour, and smell when to replace.

Potentially injurious - even fatal - "surprise" to those less familiar. Who don't "know the ropes."

Just not the best choice for "once in a while" use by folk who have some other "Day Job" altogether, don't REALLY even want to be bothered taking the time to research what they have to work with.

ALL of which is published, of course. Has been for ages.

RC99 said:

A bit off topic but why are written records considered by bureaucracy to be like whatever religious text you approve of?

Anyone can tick and flick and say something was done when it really wasn't.

They can not really say it was not done when you have ticked a box saying it was.

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When they ask survivors about the training they received it needs to match your records. They will ask, at least OSHA will, and falsifying those records is a felony. Fake if you want but you will only be fooling yourself.