Section 25: Chains, ropes and lifting tackle

(1) The following provisions shall be complied with as respects every chain, rope or lifting tackle used for the purpose of raising or lowering persons, goods or materials-
(a) no chain, rope or lifting tackle shall be used unless it is of good construction, sound material, adequate strength and free from patent defect;
(b) a table showing the safe working loads of every kind and size of chain, rope or lifting tackle in use, and, in the case of a multiple sling, the safe working load at different angles of the legs, shall be prominently displayed on the premises, so, however, that the foregoing provisions of this paragraph shall not apply in relation to any lifting tackle if the safe working load thereof or, in the case of a multiple sling, the safe working load at different angles of the legs, is plainly marked upon it;
(c) no chain, rope or lifting tackle shall be used for any load exceeding the safe working load thereof as shown by the table aforesaid or marked upon it as aforesaid;
(d) all chains, ropes and lifting tackle in use shall be thoroughly examined at least once in every period of six months, or at such greater intervals as the Director of Factories may permit in any particular case, by a person approved for the purposes of this section by the Director of Factories by certificate in writing;
(e) no chain, rope or lifting tackle shall be taken into use in any factory for the first time in that factory unless it has been tested and thoroughly examined by a person approved by the Director of Factories for the purposes of this section as aforesaid and a certificate of such a test and examination, has been obtained; and a report for each chain, rope or lifting tackle in the prescribed form shall be filed with the Director of Factories and the certificate shall be kept available for inspection;
(f) every chain and lifting tackle, except a rope sling, shall, unless of a class or description exempted by the Director of Factories by notice published in the Gazette, be annealed at last once in every fourteen months, or in the case of chains used in connection with molten metal or molten slag, in every six months, so however, that chains and lifting tackles not in regular use need be annealed only when necessary.
(2) In this section the expression "lifting tackle" means chain slings, rope slings, rings, hooks, shackles and swivels.