Can we talk about new guys using zip ties on lift bags?

I was on a job last month in Norfolk harbor and watched a diver tie off a 50 pound lift bag with a zip tie instead of the proper rope. The bag popped loose at 40 feet and nearly took out the tender on the way up. When did we stop teaching the basics of rigging to entry level guys?

3 comments

3 Comments

bailey.jennifer4d ago

Remind me to tell my entry level self that zip ties aren't climbing gear either.

lee6894d ago

DUDE, exactly. It's the SAME problem with cheap webbing slings on anchors. People see a youtube video where some guy clips a quicklink on with a skinny little zip tie and thinks that's good enough. But a zip tie's not rated for ANY kind of dynamic load, let alone the pressure from a lift bag or a fall on a climb. I've literally found half-rotten 4-inch ties holding a gate open on a wreck entrance before. The thing is, you can't just look at something and know if it's going to snap. You NEED to learn the actual knots or buy the right hardware. A proper bowline or a rated shackle is cheap insurance compared to a face full of hardware or a bag rocketing past your head.

elliot_roberts4d ago

My buddy Jake got tagged with a 65 pound lift bag off the coast of Galveston last spring because some new guy used a half-inch zip tie on it. The bag came loose at 30 feet and shot up right past his head, missed his reg by inches. He spent the whole surface interval chewing out the lead diver while @bailey.jennifer was writing a safety report on a clipboard. The worst part is the new guy was just following what he saw on YouTube instead of learning the proper knots from a real instructor. That whole Norfolk story is exactly the kind of thing we're seeing more and more of now.