Serious question, who else used to skip daily wire rope inspections?

I used to just give the cable a quick glance in the morning before my first lift. Thought I knew what to look for after 5 years on the job. Then back in March, a buddy of mine on a site in Pittsburgh had a cable snap during a pick. Nobody got hurt but it was close. Now I do the full hands-on inspection every single shift. Run my gloves along the whole length, check for birdcaging, look for that 6 broken wires in one lay rule. How many of you actually do the full inspection versus just a look?

3 comments

3 Comments

hugo_robinson2518d ago

Yeah I used to be in the same boat. Five years running a crane and I’d just eyeball the cable from the cab, figured that was good enough. But after a guy I worked with in Ohio had a broken strand whip back and nearly take his arm off, I changed my tune real quick. Now I do the full glove drag every morning, not just a quick look. You don’t realize how much you miss until you actually touch the thing.

wesley_adams18d ago

Respectfully, I see it a bit different. Glove dragging is fine for catching surface nicks and broken wires, but you can miss internal corrosion or core damage that way. I've seen cables pass a glove drag and still snap a month later when the core let go. I still do the drag every day, but I pair it with a 10x magnification check on the valley wires and keep a logbook. The touch test is good, but it's not the whole picture.

noahmartin17d ago

Man, I hear you loud and clear on that! I run a small shop and one of my guys had a cable pass an inspection but still had a hidden weak spot that almost caused a real bad accident. Now I do the drag test but also bend the cable a bit in a few spots to feel for any stiff or crunchy sections that might mean internal rust.