Load Lifting: Rules and the Work Permit (PT)

Moving heavy materials in industry and on construction sites demands technical rigour and advance planning. Operational failures — excess weight on the equipment or incorrect rigging, for instance — can result in serious accidents and significant material losses.

To guarantee the safety of the operation, engineering uses a Rigging Plan (the technical lifting study). Releasing the team to carry out the planned movement, however, requires documentary validation at the work front. That is what the work permit for load lifting is for.

In this article we detail the risks involved in load lifting, the mandatory inspection points before the operation, and how to structure this formal release.

What is load lifting and what are the risks?

Load lifting is the operation of raising and moving heavy or bulky materials using specific equipment such as mobile cranes, overhead travelling cranes, tower cranes, gantries and hoists.

Despite the technology built into this equipment, the human variable (the operator and the signaller/rigger) and the environmental conditions are decisive for safety. The most critical risks in this operation include:

Load drop: structural failure in slings, loops, shackles or hooks.
Equipment tipping: caused by positioning on unstable ground (inadequate outrigger setup) or by lifting weight above the machine's rated capacity.
Crushing or trapping: workers struck by the load as it swings or during the descent to final positioning.
Electric shock: accidental contact between the crane boom and live power lines (a risk associated with NR-10).

Why the work permit for load lifting matters

The work permit for lifting is the formal document authorising the movement to begin. It works as a final verification checklist, validating whether every preventive measure planned in the Preliminary Risk Analysis (APR) and the Rigging Plan has actually been implemented on site.

The absence of a work permit for load lifting removes the double-check of safety conditions, leaving the operation without documentary backing and out of step with Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) guidelines.

Issuing this release attests that the area has been isolated and that the workers involved are aware of the machine's radius of action while the load is suspended.

What to check on the lifting permit

The lifting permit must be issued at the operation site, immediately before the movement begins. The verification items are based on regulatory requirements, in particular NR-11 (Transport, Movement, Storage and Handling of Materials).

The safety team and those responsible for the task must inspect and validate points such as:

Item inspected	Technical point of attention
Rigging accessories	Visual inspection of steel cables, textile slings, chains and shackles. Accessories must show no wear, cuts or deformation that reduces their capacity.
Isolation and signage	The entire radius of action (crane slew and load path) must be physically isolated with hazard tape, barriers or cones.
Weather conditions	Check wind speed. The operation must stop in case of winds beyond the equipment's limit, heavy rain or lightning.
Communication	Validate that two-way radios work and that hand-signal standards between the signaller and the machine operator are agreed.
Ground stability	Confirm that the crane's mats and outriggers are properly supported on firm, level ground.

Load lifting and its overlap with work at height

One particularity of load lifting is how often it overlaps with fall risk exposure. In many industrial and construction operations, the load is lifted from the ground but must be received and positioned by workers on elevated platforms, silo tops, slabs or steel structures.

In those scenarios, the documentation requires simultaneous care. The worker receiving, guiding and unhooking the suspended load must be properly anchored. To make sure the plan covers all these stages, it is worth also applying the rules covered in our article on steps to bring the company into line with work at height (NR-35).

Rigour in issuing and checking safety items daily is what guarantees a load movement free of failures. How has your team been completing and storing these releases before starting operations with heavy machinery?