Rigging, lifting, and hoisting are the skills and systems used to move heavy loads safely. They matter in salvage, construction, repair, machine installation, bridge work, tree work, transport, and infrastructure recovery. A community that can lift safely can recover engines, beams, tanks, stones, poles, machines, and wreckage that would otherwise remain unusable.
This folder contains DOE hoisting and rigging references. These materials are safety-critical. Rigging is not simply tying rope to a heavy object. It requires knowing load weight, center of gravity, sling angle, equipment rating, inspection, communication, ground conditions, exclusion zones, and failure modes.
The main risk is that stored energy is hidden. A suspended load can fall, swing, crush, roll, tip, or overload equipment suddenly. A sling that looks adequate can fail if cut over an edge, used at a bad angle, overloaded, or attached to a weak point.
Know the load before lifting. Weight, balance, center of gravity, attachment points, sharp edges, and path of travel all matter.
Angles change forces. A shallow sling angle can greatly increase tension in each sling leg, even when the load weight is unchanged.
Equipment ratings are limits, not goals. Shackles, hooks, slings, hoists, cranes, jacks, beams, and anchor points must be inspected and used within their rated capacity.
Communication prevents accidents. Hand signals, a single lift director, clear exclusion zones, and stop-work authority are core safety practices.
At A2, rigging supports salvage yards, workshops, machine repair, construction, waterworks, bridge work, sawmills, and energy systems. Simpler lifting with levers, rollers, block and tackle, and jacks can begin earlier, but formal hoisting belongs higher because mistakes can kill multiple people at once.
This folder is A2 because safe rigging and hoisting depend on trained workers, rated equipment, inspection, planning, and standards. A1 users may learn simple mechanical advantage and low-risk lifting, but heavy lifts should be treated as industrial safety work.
Start with load weight, center of gravity, sling angles, knots versus rated rigging hardware, inspection, hand signals, exclusion zones, and never standing under suspended loads. Then learn hoists, cranes, jacks, spreader bars, anchor points, and lift planning.
30_A2_Industrial_Seed\Salvage_and_Remanufacture\Rigging_Lifting_and_Hoisting