16.5.4 Sling Formation

The selection of the sling formation, i.e. single sling, multi-leg sling or endless sling should be carefully considered.

  1. Single slings are by far the most common as they allow for a wide range of applications. They may be used for straight line lifting, use in choke or basket hitch and they may be joined with suitable coupling devices to form temporary multi-leg sling arrangements.

  2. If a number of single slings are to be used in multi-leg formation, consideration must be given to the use of suitable coupling fittings such as shackles. The slings should be joined together by coupling fittings and not placed directly onto the hook of the lifting appliance. The seat of the fitting should be of adequate width to allow the slings to sit side by side without bunching or riding up on each other. This may require the use of multiple fittings for some arrangements.

  3. The use of made up multi-leg flat woven webbing slings is common practice in Europe, but is rare in the UK where it is more usual to use a number of single slings coupled together. However, for applications where a multi-leg arrangement is regularly called for, the selection of a multi-leg sling may be the more economic choice.

  4. Since the introduction of roundslings (see section x-svn:///svn/leea/dita/xml/topics/TOP_00001000/TOP_00001010.html of this code) the use of endless flat woven webbing slings has declined due to the lack of flexibility across their width, they are however commonly used to form the legs of multi-leg slings where they will be used in a straight pull. The same criteria must be applied to their use with other fittings as with slings having soft eyes. The use of endless flat woven webbing slings in choke hitch is not recommended as the webbing will twist in this configuration.