Various Techniques Used for Slinging Hitches to Lift Loads

How many people do you need to lift a big block of concrete weighing thousands of tonnes? How long will it take them to move the block to the desired location? You will require lots of labour and time to move stuff during construction. Thankfully, you can hire cranes and riggers to do the hard work while your workers focus on other tasks involved in the project. Slinging hitches powered by riggers and cranes provide the right hoisting mechanism for moving heavy loads within short periods. You will save lots of time and money while ensuring safety for your workers. The following discussion explains some of the methods used to sling hitches when hoisting heavy loads during construction.

Vertical Hitch

Vertical hitching is the simplest technique when slinging and hoisting loads. One end of the sling holds on to the hook of the rigger while the other end of the sling is affixed to the load. The rigger then uses one or several taglines to keep the load from rotating uncontrollably. The number of taglines often depends on the weight of the load, surrounding obstructions and the desired height that the load must reach.

Choker Hitch

In the choker hitch technique, one end of the sling holds onto to the hook of the rigger while the other end goes around the load. Having the sling around the load provides better support compared to the vertical hitch technique. The rigger can control the load effectively using one sling rigged firmly into the choker hitch. On the downside, the choker hitch method does not provide full contact (360 degrees) between the sling and the load.

Basket Hitch

The basket hitch is another slinging technique that riggers can use. It is only applicable for loads that allow the sling to pass through them before the rigger can attach the sling to a hook. The load also has to balance on the sling before the riggers lift it off. In order to achieve this, riggers use a combination of shackles to offer the optimal support to the legs of the sling. Such cases require some precautionary measures to guarantee safe hoisting. The safety measures include:

• The secondary slings must be of equal length for the load to balance.
• The additional slings must have the same load-bearing capacity.
• The points of attachment for all the slings legs should be far enough such that they can offer optimal support within a radius of ninety degrees.

For more information and assistance, contact a company that has dogman for hire today.