6. Accidents

The most frequent cases of accidents involving lifting equipment are :

• load unhooking: this alone accounts for 40% of unhooking accidents, and is most often the result of a load slung in a basket slipping out of place, or slings coming off a hook with a defective latch. It can also occur in cases where a load handled with a sheet-metal or log grapple slips out of place;

• sling breakage: another frequent cause of accidents is sling or accessory breakage (27%). This type of accident is often encountered when using textile slings. Breakage of the lifting accessory, due to overloading or improper use of the sling (absence of protection when passing over a sharp edge), is often observed;

• load tilting: this tilting (13%) can result either from misalignment of the load's center of...