Roundsling Technical Committee Report

By Greg Babinchak, Chair

September 30th Deadline for Comments to be Submitted on RS-1

RS1 Standard for Polyester Roundslings
The roundsling committee has recently approved an updated version of the RS1 roundsling standard for polyester roundslings.

It contains quite a few informational additions and updates, including:

Updated information on the use of the adjusting hitch
Some improved language consistency with the ASME B30 standard
Added flexibility regarding the selection of testing pin sizes
Increased emphasis on product training requirements
New information regarding the proper use of polyester roundslings around edges
The addition of a product inspection sheet

This summer the RS1 Standard has been made available for public review and comment. Any recommendations that are received by the September 30th deadline will in turn be presented to the committee for consideration. Also, a few additional changes will likely be made by the committee before final approval is made.

This latest update to the standard includes some new information that is rather technical in nature. Consideration was made concerning how to best present the information, so that it is not deemed as being overly difficult for the common sling user to comprehend. As such, some of the most technical information was placed at the end of the document, in a new appendix section. A few further changes are also being considered, including additional illustrations, to improve the presentation of the document and to ease product training efforts. And finally, the committee will discuss the most prominent differences in content and language that exist between the RS1 Standard and the Safety Bulletin that is now being proposed by the Legal Resource Committee.

New topics
Looking forward, with much of the work now completed on the RS1 update, the committee will be discussing prioritization of a list of possible topics to focus on in upcoming meetings.

One topic for discussion will include manufacturing variations. While the WSTDA standards are predominantly performance based in nature, the committee will weigh in on the issue of manufacturing process variations including knotting, splicing, blending and sewing through core yarns during manufacturing.

The committee will also revitalize previous efforts to develop a standard and address the use of high modulus yarn types in the manufacture of roundslings.

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