YOKE addresses confusion over colour chain slings
YOKE Industrial Corporation has launched a Guidance document addressing what it claims is confusion over the different colours of chain sling components.
The document entitled: ‘Is the colour of your chain fittings important?’ has been written to give clarity to the issue, which YOKE says has been brought to its attention by end users, rigging companies and authorised YOKE partners, to ensure correct product supply, documentation, performance and markings are in accordance with legislation, standards and best practice.
The guidance is there to assist, but does not replace the responsibility of those with specific duties under the legislation to ensure that they fulfil the obligations imposed on them.
Richard Oldknow, Vice President Sales – EMEA, YOKE Industrial Corporation, said its G8 and G100 chain systems are used by partners all around the world but it gets an increasing number of questions, regarding colour.
“In the rigging industry, many people recognise “yellow” as the primary colour for G8 chain fittings. However, with G100 becoming the dominant chain system around the world, the colour palette has grown, from blue, silver, purple, green, pink, there are no limits to the colour of chain fittings, so is colour important?” said Oldknow.
He believes some people are obsessed with the colour of their chain fittings, when in fact colour is only brand marketing.
“There are a huge range of manufacturers, importers and components that can now be purchased on the global market, legislation applies to them all. Some components are covered by EN/ASME/AS/JIS/other harmonised standards and third party approvals such as DGUV, whereas others are not,” he said.
“The origin and colour of some brands are known, others are unknown, which leads to confusion to the conformity of these components. YOKE use yellow for the G8 chain fittings and blue for G100, but there are many imports and also valued brands with similar colours. The question is how to determine you are receiving the genuine product. For example, we have been asked many times why a chain fitting is yellow or blue, but it does not have the YOKE brand on it, in that case, of course we say it is not YOKE,” he added.
“As our partners around the world commonly use both G8 and G100 chain systems, and when both LEEA guidance and EN Standards do not mention or recommend any particular colour, then what should we be looking for to ensure we purchase genuine brands if it’s not just colour. We have come to see many import brands which do not comply with standards being accepted because they were yellow or blue and people sometimes do not look further.
“At YOKE, colour is primarily about brand visibility, the real key, as with all lifting products is to check the forged markings and the documentation. Hard stamped items are often added by the rigging shop or end user as an internal reference, not by the manufacturer.
“For example, on a G10 product as a minimum, we will forge on all our components:
The brand – YOKE; Grade and Size - i.e. 13-10, 13mm Grade 10; Traceability Code – on all the forged components, we use three digits such as AAB; Any 3rd party approval – we use DGUV in Germany, which is a well-recognised quality mark – YOKE were awarded the H91 mark
“Also, the load pins, should be marked with the Grade and manufacturers symbol or brand name, but some products in the market do not have this.”
He said, in summary, colour is about brand awareness, to support the markings, we supply certification and safe use instructions, more and more in digital format, but these are also available in paper format if requested.
For the assembled slings they can come with an RFID tag, which the user can scan with a mobile device to view certificates, safe use instructions, Pre-use check history, and also to carry out further Pre-use check and maintenance.
“When we get asked if a product they have is YOKE, because they see it is blue or yellow, we refer them to the markings and documentation to ensure they are safe and have the correct product,” added Oldknow.
To download the Guidance document visit https://go.yoke.net/l/795183/2023-04-21/354kvn
