Most slinging incidents on New Zealand worksites don’t start with a broken sling or a failed shackle. They start with an assumption.
The dogman assumes the operator saw the signal. The operator assumes the load is balanced. The team on the ground assumes someone else checked the WLL. Somewhere in that chain of small assumptions, the margin disappears.
The load doesn’t care who got it wrong. It only responds to what’s actually attached to it, lifted off it, and signalled to it. Hand signals only work if everyone is reading from the same code.
Where risk builds
Lifting incidents tend to come from a handful of recurring gaps:
- A load slung off-centre, with the imbalance not visible until it leaves the ground
- The wrong gear selected for the load type, or the WLL exceeded by a margin no one calculated
- Hand signals improvised between an operator and a dogman who haven’t worked together before
- Taglines forgotten on lifts that turn out to need them
- Communication breaking down when radio chatter, site noise, or sightlines interrupt the signal
- Shackles, slings, or chains being used past their inspection date because “they still look fine”
Each of these can happen on a job that’s gone smoothly a hundred times before.
Why slinging incidents look the same
Three patterns show up again and again across NZ workplaces:
- Assumed competence. Workers who have helped with lifts before are often assumed to be trained. Being around a job and being trained against an industry standard are not the same thing.
- Improvised communication. Crane industry standard hand signals exist for a reason. When teams default to “their own” signals, the next operator they work with doesn’t share that vocabulary.
- Gear in service past its inspection. Slings, shackles, chains, and rigging hardware all have inspection intervals. A visual check at the start of a shift is not a substitute for the documented inspection regime.
Each pattern looks small in isolation. Together, they’re the difference between a routine lift and a near miss.
Focus areas before the next lift
Before the next non-routine lift, the people responsible should be clear on:
- Is every person involved in the lift trained against current NZQA standards, not just experienced?
- Has the load been assessed for type, weight, balance, and slinging point selection?
- Is the rigging gear within its inspection cycle, and is there documentation to prove it?
- Are the operator and dogman using crane industry standard signals, and have they confirmed them before the lift starts?
- Is there a clear plan for what happens if communication breaks down mid-lift?
Training that builds real capability
Besafe Training delivers hands-on slinging and crane operation training, with practical assessment in a controlled environment before the same skills are applied on site.
Our crane and load handling courses include:
- Safe Slinging and Load Handling Techniques (NZQA US30072), the foundation course for slinging regular loads safely. Covers hazard identification, lift planning, rigging gear selection, WLL tables, and crane industry standard signals.
- Rigging and Slinging Essentials: Safely Direct Crane Operations (NZQA US3789), the dogman course for workers slinging varied regular loads and directing a crane. Prerequisite: US30072.
- Overhead Gantry Crane Operation (NZQA US3800), for operators of radio remote and pendant-controlled overhead gantry cranes.
- Sling, lift and place a load with mobile plant on an infrastructure work environment (SLMP), for civil and infrastructure environments.
Most courses include a post-course evidence log, where students record verified lifts under supervision to complete the unit standard. Refresher options are available for operators whose certification needs renewing.
View course details and book now: Crane and rigging courses
