What is Destruction Testing
Gavin Smith
What is destruction testing
We put all of our products through a rigorous destruction testing process as part of the early stages of product development and testing. Where we need to validate a manufacturers claims of work load limits or to establish yield strengths of materials and rigging assemblies we will always test to destruction. In other words we break stuff so you don’t.
How is a safe work limit calculated?
When we perform a destruction test on any product used to lift a human for example, and it breaks at 21.5 kN (kilonewton) which is a measurement of dynamic force that converts to approximately a mass of 2192 kg acted upon by gravity, then we need to apply a safety factor of 10.
So in the above example, our safe workload limit (SWL)becomes roughly 200 kg.
Safety factors applied to rigging equipment and products are always 10:1 for humans, 7:1 for synthetic rigging products, slings, etc., and 4:1 for chain and hardware used in the assembly of chain slings.
Where it gets complicated is calculating and identifying the weakest link that is used anywhere in a rigging system that has various rigging items installed in the system.
Whether for human lifts or industrial lifts, no one is immune from the effects of gravity or legal prosecution when it comes to negligence when working at heights. We always must be safely working at heights even before we leave the ground.
The professional rigger will have the knowledge and experience to assess the risk, identify and mitigate any issues regarding unsafe practices.
Get in touch with us now about your project.
Meet Emilio
Emilio, one of my favourite characters in my job, has been in the rigging industry for a very long time, he operates the test equipment for me. He identifies the point at which the equipment fails.
Trying you’re best to break things not only sounds like a great job - it is. The destruction testing and the data we collect contributes to safer working environments for those out there working in high-risk jobs, but it also brings us a great sense of joy to push products to their limits.