Web Sling Committee Report

By Steve Schroeder, Web Sling Committee Chairman

The Web Sling Technical Committee had another eventful and productive meeting this past November in Indianapolis.

I am pleased to announce that the Web Sling mini-manual has been completed and each member has been sent a copy. These manuals are excellent tools for manufacturers, sales personnel, distributors and end users. They are readily available on our website.

At the past few meetings we have discussed a safety alert issued by Lloyds of London, referencing correct and incorrect fabrication methods for web slings. As an association, we have vehemently disagreed with this opinion. WSTDA sent a letter to Lloyds in July 2006 but received no response in our efforts to have Lloyds rescind this alert. The Committee agreed that a letter of closure be drafted and reviewed by the Web Sling and Executive Committees and Legal Counsel. We sent this letter in January along with the previous letter and now consider this issue to be closed.

We also discussed the terminology affixed to testing we are hoping to have completed in the near future. It was agreed that T/D or P/D would better identify the project that D/D testing inasmuch as Diameter/Diameter is somewhat of a misnomer. An ad hoc committee comprised of Fred Ambli, Greg Babinchak and myself was created to conduct exploratory testing, develop a test protocol and give a cost proposal to the Board at the spring meeting.

It was also agreed that our Cycle Testing project be tabled for the time being so as to concentrate on the T/D or P/D project.

Web sling warning sheets were reviewed with minor changes adopted. A task force comprised of Greg Babinchak, Mike Gelskey and Ken Coe are further reviewing the warning sheet, soliciting input from the Committee and will make a final recommendation to the Board in Scottsdale.

Other items discussed were the possible development of in-service tags which Mr. Ambli will address in May as well as a letter sent to Larry Means supporting our longstanding position on choker hitch ratings.

We will be hard-pressed to discuss and disseminate everything in our allotted time frame at the Spring meeting so I encourage everyone to give thought in advance to our current agenda. Some of the things we need to review are:

Acceptable levels of edge cutting
Pocket charts
Revision of warning sheets
Minimum size/diameter of connecting hardware for synthetic slings

As always, I thank the Committee members for their hard work and look forward to seeing you all soon in Arizona.

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Web Sling & Tie Down Association

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