Whilst conducting one of our first hyperbaric lifeboat recovery drills we had a near miss which highlighted an important lesson. The lesson was that connecting a standard SPHL chain bridle with a master link is fraught with danger and presents a significant risk to personnel safety. An additional risk is equipment damage when using a typical crane lifting hook – exacerbated in rough weather.
As a result of the near miss, Thrust Maritime developed the Winshackle, a system which allows for remote connection of the SPHL to the hook. Winshackle redefines ALARP/SFARP and allows recovery to be conducted safely in greater operational weather windows.
If you're not able to connect an SPHL to your lifting system there is no point having a lifting system!
The benefits of the Winshackle system can be seen during any offshore lift where manual handling of heavy rigging is required.
Read more about this capability on our website!