Safe Working Load (SWL) sometimes stated as the Normal Working Load (NWL) is the load that a piece of Lifting Equipment, lifting device or accessory can safely lift, suspend, or lower without fear of breaking. Usually marked on the equipment by the manufacturer and is often 1/5 of the Minimum Breaking Strength (MBS) although other fractions may be used such as 1/4, 1/6 and 1/10
Other synonyms include Working Load Limit (WLL), which is the maximum working load designed by the manufacturer. The load represents a mass or force that is much less than that required to make the lifting equipment fail or yield, also known as the Minimum Breaking Load (MBL). The SWL is calculated using a safety factor For example, 5:1 (5 to 1, or 1/5). An example of this would be a chain that has a MBL of 2000 lbs would have a SWL or WLL of 400 lbs if a safety factor of 5 (5 to 1) is used
Famous quotes containing the words safe, working and/or load:
“Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)
“... we, like so many others who think more of working than of dying, care only to push on steadily, wishing less for cessation of toil than for strength to keep at it; and for wisdom to make it worthy of the ideal of labor and of life which we believe to be the most precious gift of Heaven to any soul.”
—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844–1911)
“To watch another carrying a load requires no exertion.”
—Chinese proverb.