Jobsite Safety, Rigging, and OSHA Practices
Domain 8 covers keeping people alive in and around hoistways: energy control, fall protection and rigging that is calculated rather than guessed. This is where the exam is most practical.
Energy control and access
Lockout/tagout under 29 CFR 1910.147 is six steps: notify, shut down, isolate, apply locks and tags, release stored energy (hydraulic pressure, drive capacitors, suspended loads), then verify. Hoistway and pit access requires the car at a safe landing, the pit stop switch off and locked where required, and barricades at open hoistway doors. Fall protection in general industry applies at 4 ft (1910.28); construction work uses 6 ft (1926.501). Working from the car top requires a rated top-of-car operating device plus a guardrail or personal fall protection.
Rigging arithmetic
Every lift starts with load weight, center of gravity and rated hardware: shackles, slings, beam clamps and hoists all have working load limits. Sling tension rises steeply as the angle from horizontal drops. Wire rope clips go on with the saddle on the live (loaded) end - never saddle a dead horse.
Worked example
Lift a 2,000 lb machine with a two-leg bridle sling, each leg 30° from horizontal. Vertical share per leg = 1,000 lb. Tension per leg = 1,000 ÷ sin 30° = 2,000 lb. At 60°, tension = 1,000 ÷ sin 60° = 1,155 lb. The load did not change; the sling angle did - so select hardware by tension, not by load weight.
Traps
Sizing rigging from load weight alone; using damaged or unmarked slings; blocking a hoistway door open without a guard; trusting a hydraulic system to hold a car without a mechanical block.