Page 57: of Marine News Magazine (May 2016)

56 58

CORDAGE & RIGGING

New

Synthetic

Slings

Allow for

Lighter

Lifting on the Job

Yale Cordage’s Fortis2 Slings can maximize ef? ciency and minimize common jobsite hazards.

By Jamie Goddard t a large American shipyard, a new kind of synthetic ic round slings for certain jobs and enjoyed the lightweight sling is making heavy lifts safer and easier, indoors and bullish strength those products brought. But before and out. The product, a multipart sling by Yale they could switch from steel to synthetic for their very

A

Cordage called Fortis2, is just as strong and resistant to abra- heaviest lifts, they had to be assured the material would sion as its wire counterparts of the same diameter, at a frac- alleviate three main concerns: tion of the weight. And unlike other synthetic lifting slings, • Abrasion: with their older synthetic slings, the shipyard it exhibits the same stiffness characteristics as wire, making workers knew to pay extra attention to abrasive conditions. it possible to use synthetics where you never could before. Under a heavy enough load, bunching on the shackle or pick

In the construction of ships, buildings, bridges and point or a slight movement of the pick could tear a sling’s more, Fortis2 Slings can maximize ef? ciency and minimize sleeve. The shipyard needed to know that this would not be a common jobsite hazards. factor with the new synthetic slings.

• Stiffness: Traditional rope slings lack the stiffness needed

ENGINEERED STRENGTH: to set up very large lifts. To rig massive ship pieces weighing in

Rede? ning the Limits of Synthetic Cordage excess of 30 tons, workers often needed to push the sling un-

Synthetic cordage was not completely foreign to the derneath the object and hook it on the other side. You couldn’t shipyard prior to Fortis². In fact, they already used synthet- push a rope sling underneath a load like you could a stiff wire 57 www.marinelink.com MN

MN May16 Layout 52-65.indd 57 4/20/2016 10:42:09 AM