Wire ropes rarely fail without warning. A competent inspector looks for the signs of deterioration and compares them with the discard criteria in standards such as ISO 4309 and the rope manufacturer’s guidance.
Key defects
- Broken wires: counted over a set length; clusters and breaks at the end fittings are especially serious.
- Diameter reduction: caused by wear, core failure or stretch.
- Corrosion: internal corrosion is hard to see and may need the rope opened or tested.
- Deformation: kinks, birdcaging, crushing, waviness and core protrusion usually mean immediate discard.
- Heat damage: discoloration from welding or arcing.
Look in the right places
Pay most attention where the rope runs over sheaves, spools on the drum, and at terminations — that is where fatigue and wear concentrate.
Record what you find, measure against a baseline, and remove the rope when a criterion is reached — not when it “looks really bad”.
