For people who inspect cranes and the operators who rely on them: when inspections are required, what the shift, monthly and annual inspections cover, wire rope deficiency categories, removal from service and wire rope selection basics.
Based on OSHA 29 CFR 1926.1412 through 1926.1414 · about 8 min read
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A qualified person must inspect the equipment before initial use after any of these:
Modifications or additions that affect safe operation or capacity (for example, involving a safety device or operational aid, critical part of a control system, power plant, braking system, load-sustaining structural components, load hook or in-use operating mechanism). The inspection must assure the modifications or additions were done in accordance with the approval obtained under 29 CFR 1926.1434 (Equipment modifications) and must include functional testing; the equipment must not be used until the inspection shows that.
Repairs or adjustments that relate to safe operation. The qualified person checks the work against manufacturer criteria where applicable and available (or criteria developed by the qualified person or a registered professional engineer), and the inspection includes functional testing of the repaired or adjusted parts and other affected components.
Assembly. Upon completion of assembly, the equipment must be inspected to assure it is configured in accordance with manufacturer equipment criteria, and it must not be used until the inspection shows that.
A competent person must begin a visual inspection prior to each shift the equipment will be used, and complete it before or during that shift.
It is an observation for apparent deficiencies. Taking components apart or booming down is not required unless the visual inspection or trial operation shows further investigation is needed.
Findings must be reassessed in light of what is observed during operation.
Reference: 29 CFR 1926.1412(d)(1)
The shift inspection
What the shift inspection covers
The shift inspection includes, at a minimum, items such as:
Control mechanisms for maladjustments; control and drive mechanisms for excessive wear and contamination
Air, hydraulic and other pressurized lines for deterioration or leakage; hydraulic fluid level
Hooks and latches for deformation, cracks, excessive wear or damage
Wire rope reeving and the wire rope itself
Electrical apparatus; tires (when in use) for inflation and condition
Ground conditions for proper support, including settling under outriggers/stabilizers and water accumulation
Level position, cab windows, rails (when rail traveling), and safety devices and operational aids
If a deficiency is found, the competent person must immediately determine whether it is a safety hazard. If it is, the equipment must be taken out of service until corrected. Deficiencies in safety devices and operational aids follow the rules for those devices.
Monthly. Each month the equipment is in service, it must be inspected like a shift inspection. The employer that conducts it documents the items checked and results, plus the name and signature of the inspector and the date, and keeps the record for at least three months.
Annual/comprehensive. At least every 12 months, a qualified person inspects the equipment, with disassembly as necessary, covering the equipment structure (structural members, bolts, rivets and other fasteners, and welds); sheaves and drums; pins, bearings, shafts, gears, rollers and locking devices; brake and clutch system parts, linings, pawls and ratchets; safety devices and operational aids; power plants; chains and chain drive sprockets; travel steering, brakes and locking devices; tires; pressurized hoses, fittings and tubing; hydraulic and pneumatic pumps, motors, valves and cylinders; outrigger or stabilizer pads/floats and slider pads; electrical components and wiring; warning labels and decals; operator seats; and steps, ladders, handrails and guards. It includes functional testing. A deficiency that is not yet a hazard but needs to be monitored must be checked in the monthly inspections. Records are kept for at least 12 months.
Severe service. Where use or conditions make damage or excessive wear reasonably probable (such as loading that may have exceeded rated capacity, shock loading that may have exceeded rated capacity, or prolonged exposure to a corrosive atmosphere), the employer must stop using the equipment and a qualified person must inspect it for structural damage and decide whether annual inspection items need checking.
Idle equipment. Equipment idle for 3 months or more must be inspected by a qualified person to the monthly inspection requirements before initial use.
Manufacturer procedures. Where the manufacturer's inspection procedures that relate to safe operation are more comprehensive or more frequent than the rule, they must be followed.
Each shift, a competent person visually inspects the wire ropes (running and standing) likely to be in use. Untwisting the rope or booming down is not required.
Category I apparent deficiencies include:
Significant distortion: kinking, crushing, unstranding, birdcaging, signs of core failure or steel core protrusion
Significant corrosion
Electric arc damage (from a source other than power lines) or heat damage
Improperly applied end connections; significantly corroded, cracked, bent or worn end connections
Give particular attention to critical review items: rotation resistant rope, boom hoist and luffing hoist rope (especially at reverse bends), flange, crossover and repetitive pickup points on drums, rope at or near terminal ends, and rope on saddles and equalizer sheaves.
Category II is visible broken wires and diameter loss:
Running ropes: six randomly distributed broken wires in one rope lay, or three broken wires in one strand in one rope lay.
Rotation resistant ropes: two randomly distributed broken wires in six rope diameters, or four in 30 rope diameters.
Pendants or standing ropes: more than two broken wires in one rope lay beyond end connections and/or more than one broken wire in a rope lay at an end connection.
A diameter reduction of more than 5% from nominal diameter.
Category III includes core protrusion or other distortion indicating core failure in rotation resistant rope, prior electrical contact with a power line, and a broken strand.
Category I: the competent person immediately determines whether it is a safety hazard. If it is, use of that rope is prohibited until the rope is replaced or, if the damage is localized, the rope is severed in two and the undamaged portion is used.
Category II: use is prohibited until the employer follows the wire rope manufacturer's removal criterion (or a different criterion the rope manufacturer approved in writing for that rope), replaces the rope, or severs a localized deficiency.
Category III: use is prohibited until the rope is replaced or a localized deficiency (other than power line contact) is severed. Repair of rope that contacted an energized power line is prohibited.
Splicing lengths of wire rope together is prohibited. If a rope is shortened, the drum must still have two wraps when the load and/or boom is in its lowest position.
Rope removed from service means the equipment or that hoist is tagged-out until the rope is repaired or replaced.
Do not use rope lubricants that hinder inspection.
Replacement rope must be selected according to the recommendations of the wire rope manufacturer, the equipment manufacturer or a qualified person.
Fiber core ropes must not be used for boom hoist reeving, except for derricks. Rotation resistant ropes may be used for boom hoist reeving only under specific conditions in the rule.
Rotation resistant ropes (Types I, II and III) must have an operating design factor of no less than 3.5, with higher factors required in many cases.
Wire rope clips used with wedge sockets go on the unloaded dead end only, except that devices specifically designed for dead-ending rope in a wedge socket are permitted.
Before cutting a wire rope, place seizings on each side of the cut.
Fact-checked against the regulation text on October 09, 2026. This certificate records completion of awareness training based on OSHA 29 CFR 1926.1412, 1926.1413 and 1926.1414. It is not an OSHA card or license and does not make anyone a competent person or qualified person; the employer decides who meets those criteria. Sections 1926.1412, 1926.1413 and 1926.1414 contain no training requirement of their own. Your employer must still ensure that each inspection these sections require is done by the competent person or qualified person they specify, and that any part of the manufacturer's inspection procedures that relates to safe operation and is more comprehensive or more frequent than these sections is followed (29 CFR 1926.1412(j)).
This guide explains the rule in plain words. Always read the regulation itself and your employer's site-specific procedures.