ASME B30.20 Below-the-Hook Lifting Device Inspection Requirements: Intervals, Marking, and Load Tests

ASME B30.20 puts every below-the-hook lifting device on three inspection clocks: an every-lift check by the operator, a frequent inspection from daily to monthly by service level, and a documented periodic inspection from quarterly to yearly, plus a load test before first use that is recommended for structural and mechanical lifters and required for vacuum lifters, magnets, grapples, and clamps. Three details trip up reports: the nameplate rule (a lifter must carry its ASME BTH-1 Design Category and Service Class, which most beams built before BTH-1 existed do not), the load test rule (a ceiling of 125% of rated load, no floor, and a rated load that cannot exceed 80% of the load the test sustained), and the OSHA question (there is no OSHA rule for lifting beams, and OSHA has said in writing that following B30.20's inspection paragraphs counts as compliance).

Which standard covers your lifter

ASME B30.20, Below-the-Hook Lifting Devices, covers the marking, construction, installation, inspection, testing, maintenance, and operation of devices used for attaching a load to a hoist, other than the components that other B30 volumes already cover. The current edition is B30.20-2025, published in 2025 and revising the 2021 edition. Its design companion is ASME BTH-1-2023, Design of Below-the-Hook Lifting Devices, issued October 11, 2023, which sets the structural, mechanical, and electrical criteria a lifter is built to and supplies the two values B30.20 requires on the nameplate.

B30.20 is organised by device family, one chapter each:

Every chapter has the same five sections: scope; marking, construction, and installation; inspection, testing, and maintenance; operation; and instruction manuals. The rest of this guide walks Chapter 20-1, which covers the lifters a rigging inspection company sees most, and notes where the other chapters differ.

What B30.20 leaves to other volumes matters on a mixed job. Slings are ASME B30.9 and OSHA 1910.184 (our B30.9 sling guide covers both). Hooks are ASME B30.10. Shackles, eyebolts, turnbuckles, and hoist rings are ASME B30.26. A spreader bar carries all three on one job, and B30.20 says repairs to those components follow their own volumes.

Where OSHA stands

No OSHA standard is written for below-the-hook devices. 29 CFR 1910.179 covers overhead and gantry cranes and says only that the load shall be attached to the hook "by means of slings or other approved devices." 29 CFR 1910.184 covers slings and never mentions a lifting beam. OSHA fills the gap with the General Duty Clause and with B30.20, and it has said so three times in writing:

• 1 October 1998, to Technical Loadarm: OSHA "recognizes ANSI/ASME B30.20 specifications as the reference point for determining inspections for Below-the-Hook Lifting Devices," and engine carriers and bridles are not slings under 1910.184 because B30.20 applies to structural and mechanical lifting devices.
• 26 June 2002, to PDQ Tool Services: OSHA may apply Section 5(a)(1) of the OSH Act, the General Duty Clause, if a hazard exists, and would consult the B30.20 standard or other recognised criteria. The same letter adds that "non-engineered devices should not be used."
• 9 February 2004, to PFK-Mark III: "An employer who follows ASME B.30.20, specifically sections 20-1.3.1 through 20-1.3.7 and 20-1.3.9 with respect to inspections for below-the-hook lifting devices (other than for slings), would be considered to be in compliance with OSHA requirements."

In construction, two sentences in 29 CFR 1926.251 apply directly. Paragraph (a)(1): "Rigging equipment for material handling shall be inspected prior to use on each shift and as necessary during its use to ensure that it is safe." Paragraph (a)(4): special custom-design grabs, hooks, clamps, or other lifting accessories "shall be marked to indicate the safe working loads and shall be proof-tested prior to use to 125 percent of their rated load." The 2004 letter is clear that (a)(4) applies to custom-designed accessories and "does not require manufactured lifting beams" to be proof-tested or marked. A manufactured beam's nameplate and the manufacturer's test are what cover it.

For an inspection company, a B30.20-structured report is both the technical answer and the compliance answer, in general industry and on a construction site.

The nameplate: what a lifter has to carry

Marking is where below-the-hook inspections most often fail before the inspector has touched the steel. Under Chapter 20-1, each lifter carries:

• the manufacturer's name and contact information,
• a serial number (a unique unit identifier),
• the lifter weight, if over 100 lb (45 kg),
• cold current in amps and rated voltage, when applicable,
• the rated load,
• the ASME BTH-1 Design Category, and
• the ASME BTH-1 Service Class.

Product safety labels are a separate requirement, and the periodic inspection checks for them by name. A lifter that has been repaired or modified adds the repairer's name and address, the repairer's unit identification, and the lifter weight and rated load if either was altered. Vacuum lifters add the maximum width, length, and thickness of the load they are rated for, with individual pads or pad groups marked with their own rating. Lifting magnets add the duty cycle, the voltage of the battery or primary supply, and the cold current or watts at 68°F (20°C). The 2025 edition adds a non-mandatory appendix on marking multiple-rated-load devices, which is what an adjustable spreader bar with a rating per pin position needs.

The untagged beam is the finding every rigging inspector knows. A lifter with no nameplate, no serial number, and no design category cannot be inspected against anything, and B30.20 gives the inspector no path to invent a rating. A qualified person evaluates it, and manufacturer guidance (Mazzella's repair-or-replace criteria, for one) is to replace a device that has no documentation or tag and cannot be traced to a reputable manufacturer. Telling a customer that before the periodic inspection, rather than during it, is the kind of conversation that wins the replacement order.

Design Category and Service Class: what BTH-1 adds

The two BTH-1 values on the nameplate describe how the lifter was designed, and they belong on the asset record because they set the inspector's expectations for fatigue.

Design Category is about load predictability. Category A applies when the magnitude and variation of loads are predictable and the loading and environmental conditions are accurately defined or not severe; it carries a nominal design factor of 2.00 and is limited to Service Class 0. Category B applies when loads are not predictable or conditions are severe or not accurately defined; its nominal design factor is 3.00 against yield, and it may be designed to any service class. Category B is the common choice, because few lifters live a predictable life.

Service Class is the fatigue life the lifter was designed for, in load cycles:

Most lifters are Category B, Service Class 2. A Class 2 beam lifting 200 times a day reaches the bottom of its design band in about two years, so a beam with no cycle history and no service class on the tag is a beam whose remaining fatigue life nobody can state.

Do not confuse the BTH-1 Service Class with the service level B30.20 uses to set inspection intervals. Service Class is a design value in cycles and stays with the device. Normal, heavy, severe, and special service describe how the device is being used now and can change when it moves from a maintenance bay to a production line. Both belong on the register.

The inspection classifications

B30.20 defines four layers for Chapter 20-1 devices, and the 2021 edition added a blanket rule that all inspections are performed by a designated person.

Initial inspection. New and reinstalled lifters are inspected before initial use to verify compliance with the standard. Altered or repaired lifters are inspected too, and that inspection may be limited to the components the work affected, as a qualified person determines.

Every-lift inspection. The operator inspects before and during every lift for any indication of damage: the surface of the load for debris, the condition and operation of the controls, and the condition and operation of indicators and meters where installed. This is B30.20's pre-use check. It is per lift, not per shift; the per-shift wording belongs to OSHA 1926.251.

Frequent inspection. A visual examination by the operator or another designated person at daily to monthly intervals, with no record required.

Periodic inspection. A complete inspection at quarterly to yearly intervals, with dated records of apparent external conditions that provide the basis for a continuing evaluation.

Service level sets the two recurring clocks:

"Annual inspection" is the normal-service periodic interval, not the rule. A C-hook in a coil yard on two shifts is heavy or severe service, and its periodic inspection is semiannual or quarterly. The service level belongs on the asset record, not in the inspector's head.

When any inspection finds a deficiency, a qualified person determines whether it constitutes a hazard, requires repair, requires disassembly for further inspection, or calls for more frequent inspection. The lifter is not returned to service until a qualified person approves it.

What the frequent inspection covers

Chapter 20-1 lists four items for all lifters, each including observations during operation for damage that might appear between inspections:

• Structural members for deformation, cracks, or excessive wear on any part of the lifter.
• Loose or missing guards, fasteners, covers, stops, or nameplates.
• All functional operating mechanisms and automatic hold-and-release mechanisms for misadjustments interfering with operation.
• Missing or illegible operating control markings.

The other chapters add the device-specific items. Vacuum lifters: the vacuum pad seal for debris, hoses and fittings for kinks, collapse, or damage, and the ability to reach the designated minimum vacuum level. Close-proximity magnets: the magnet face and load surface for foreign material and smoothness, bail movement, springs, electrical connections, and battery condition. Clamps: the load contact surfaces, teeth, engagement, and springs.

No record is required for the frequent inspection. Most inspection companies log it anyway when they run it on a customer's behalf, because a logged frequent inspection is the only evidence that the layer between periodic inspections existed.

What the periodic inspection adds

The periodic inspection is the complete inspection. It includes every frequent item and, for Chapter 20-1 devices, adds:

• Loose bolts or fasteners.
• Cracked or worn gears, pulleys, sheaves, sprockets, bearings, drive chains, and belts.
• Excessive wear of friction pads, linkages, and other mechanical parts.
• Excessive wear at hoist hooking points and load support clevises or pins.
• Missing or illegible product safety labels.

In practice, a periodic inspection of a lifting beam or spreader bar also records the things that trend: beam straightness against the manufacturer's limit (Bushman's technical guidance treats anything beyond 3° out of alignment as a reason to investigate), weld condition at the bail, lugs, and end connections, pin diameter and hole elongation at every load-bearing connection, and hook throat opening measured to ASME B30.10 (our hook inspection sheet carries those rows). Where a qualified person calls for it, dye-penetrant or magnetic-particle testing of the hooking points goes on the record with the method and the technician's certification.

Records: periodic yes, frequent no

Dated inspection reports are made on the critical items the periodic inspection covers, and records are available for each periodic inspection and whenever the lifter is altered or repaired. B30.20 accepts an external code mark on the lifter as identification in lieu of records, which is why many rigging shops run colour-coded tags; the mark is the record only if the shop can say what the mark means and when it was applied. The frequent inspection and the every-lift check need no record.

B30.20 sets no retention period. For an inspection company the practical answer is the life of the device, because the periodic record's value is the trend: a pin hole that has elongated 1% a year for three years is a different conversation from one that elongated 1% once.

Load testing: "should" for Chapter 20-1, "shall" for the rest

This is the clause most often misquoted, so the words matter.

For structural and mechanical lifters, B30.20 says that prior to initial use, all new, altered, or repaired lifting devices should be tested and inspected. The test is a recommendation for that chapter. If it is performed:

• it runs under the direction of the manufacturer or a qualified person, who furnishes a written report confirming the load rating of the lifter;
• the test load is not more than 125% of the rated load unless the manufacturer recommends otherwise (there is no stated floor);
• the load rating of the lifter may not be more than 80% of the maximum load sustained during the test;
• the test consists, as a minimum, of hoisting the test load far enough for the lifter to support it, or applying the load in a testing machine, then visually inspecting the lifter for deformation, cracks, or other defects after the load is released; and
• tests of altered or repaired lifters may be limited to the components the work affected, as a qualified person determines with guidance from the manufacturer.

For vacuum lifters, lifting magnets, grapples, and clamps, the test is written as shall: required before initial use of a new, altered, or repaired device, performed by a qualified person or a designated person under the direction of the manufacturer or a qualified person, with a written report placed on file. The 2021 text for vacuum lifters and clamps sets the test load at 125% +5%/−0% of rated load unless the manufacturer or a qualified person recommends otherwise, and adds an operational test of the pad seals, lines, and controls with dated reports filed. Lifting magnets are tested for breakaway force against the rated load rather than with a suspended proof load.

The 80% rule runs the opposite way from what a shop sometimes hopes. A proof test does not raise a rating; it caps it. And the mandatory 125% figure most people remember is OSHA 1926.251(a)(4), which applies to custom-designed accessories in construction, not to B30.20's chapter on manufactured lifters.

Two practical points. First, the 2025 edition "updated the method to load test lifting devices" (ASME's revision summary), so a test procedure written from the 2021 wording above should be checked against the current text before it goes on a customer's report. Second, using the customer's crane as the test rig is governed by OSHA's 8 August 1994 letter to Alcoa under 1910.179(k): a crane may be used for a test as often as necessary when the total weight on the hook stays within 100% of the crane's rated load, and no more than once between periodic crane inspections when the total is between 100% and 125%. OSHA's stated preference is a higher-rated crane or a testing machine.

Who inspects, who operates

B30.20 divides the work among three roles. The operator does the every-lift check and, under 20-1.4.1, must be a trained, designated person. The designated person, selected or assigned by the employer as competent for the duty, performs the frequent and periodic inspections. The qualified person, by recognised degree or certificate or by extensive knowledge, training, and experience with demonstrated problem-solving in the subject, determines whether a deficiency is a hazard, approves return to service, directs load tests, and signs the test report. Personnel competence has had its own section (20-0.9) since the 2013 edition. Third-party inspection companies usually supply both inspection roles: the technician as designated person, a senior inspector or engineer as the qualified person.

What changed in B30.20-2025

ASME's summary of the 2025 revision lists four changes: the standard now addresses adjustable and modular spreader bars and clamps; new figures were added for load-containing lifters; the method to load test lifting devices was updated; and a non-mandatory Appendix A on marking multiple-rated-load lifting devices was added. The inspection intervals and the marking list above carried through from 2021, which had itself restructured Chapter 20-1's inspection section (the intervals now sit in paragraph 20-1.3.1 and the minimum inspection items in Table 20-1.3.3-1), added the designated-person rule for all inspections, and made periodic inspections of magnets and grapples explicitly recorded.

Where Core fits

Below-the-hook devices are where a rigging inspection company's records get complicated: a Design Category and Service Class that must stay with the device, a service level that moves with the job and sets two inspection clocks, a periodic record that has to trend pin wear and straightness, a load test report with the 80% rule applied, and an untagged beam on every third site. Core carries all of it per asset. The nameplate data sits on the register, intervals follow the service level, the periodic checklist captures measurements for the trend, test reports and NDT certificates attach to the device, and a qualified person's sign-off is enforced at scheduling so a deficiency can't be closed by someone who isn't one. For Australian work the same device carries its AS 4991 design certification and proof load record (our AS 4991 template is the paper version). See how Core works as crane inspection software for inspection companies, read the US crane and rigging inspection software workflow page, or see it on your own workflow.

Sources

• ASME B30.20-2021, Below-the-Hook Lifting Devices (issued November 30, 2021; revision of B30.20-2018), table of contents and front matter, ASME.
• ASME B30.20-2025 revision summary (adjustable and modular spreader bars and clamps, load-containing lifter figures, updated load test method, Nonmandatory Appendix A), ANSI Blog.
• ASME BTH-1-2023, Design of Below-the-Hook Lifting Devices (issued October 11, 2023; revision of BTH-1-2020), table of contents and front matter, ASME.
• Mazzella Companies, "ASME B30.20-2021: Updates & Revisions to the Below-the-Hook Standard" (clause-by-clause 2018 versus 2021 inspection text).
• Mazzella Companies, "Identification & Markings for Older Below-the-Hook Lifting Devices"; "Lifting and Rigging Inspection Frequencies and Records Guide"; the vacuum lifter, lifting magnet, and clamp inspection articles; and the "Below-the-Hook Repair vs Replace Guide".
• Columbus McKinnon, "Understanding Safety and Design Requirements of Below-the-Hook Lifters" and the CMCO training deck "Section 11: Below-the-Hook Lifting Devices" (verbatim clause slides, pre-2021 numbering).
• The Caldwell Group, "ASME Standards" (BTH-1 design factor and service class tables).
• Crane 1 Services, "Below-the-Hook Lifter Standards."
• Bushman Equipment, "The Importance of Inspections," technical paper.
• The Crosby Group, "Industry Update: New Revision of ASME B30.20" (July 25, 2018, the clamps chapter).
• OSHA letters of interpretation: October 1, 1998 (Technical Loadarm, 1910.184 and B30.20); June 26, 2002 (PDQ Tool Services, General Duty Clause); February 9, 2004 (PFK-Mark III, B30.20 sections 20-1.3.1 to 20-1.3.7 and 20-1.3.9, 1926.251(a)(4)); August 8, 1994 (Alcoa, load tests with a crane under 1910.179(k)).
• 29 CFR 1926.251, 1910.179, and 1910.184, and 29 U.S.C. 654(a)(1) (Cornell LII).