Users should understand the following basic information regarding steel wire rope use and maintenance.

Steel wire ropes can fail due to excessive wear, overloading, misuse, or improper maintenance. Over time, ropes gradually lose tensile strength and working capacity. Abuse and misuse of ropes will shorten their normal service life. The minimum breaking force of ropes applies only to new, unused wire ropes. Never use the minimum breaking force of a wire rope as the working load.

To determine the working load of a steel wire rope, the minimum breaking force must be divided by a design factor (also known as a safety factor). The design factor varies depending on the machine type, installation method, and operation. Before selecting a suitable rope, users must determine the design factor that applies to their application.

For example, a design factor of "5" means that the minimum breaking force of the steel wire rope must be divided by five to obtain the maximum load that can be applied to the wire rope.

The tensile strength of steel wire ropes will increase slightly after the break-in period, but its tensile strength will decrease during the service lift. As the finite fatigue life is approached, the tensile strength decreases dramatically. Never determine the remaining fatigue life of ropes by performing destructive testing on only a portion of ropes. Never overload ropes. Never apply sudden forces or loads to ropes, as this can cause visible external damage and invisible internal damage. There is currently no practical way to estimate the forces exerted on ropes by shock loads. A sudden release of a load can also damage ropes. Steel wire ropes are lubricated with lubricant during manufacture. If the lubricant depletes during use, it should be replenished regularly.

Users are required to inspect steel wire ropes regularly and maintain records signed by a qualified person. The purpose of this inspection is to determine whether the rope is safe for continued use.

A steel wire rope that has been assessed as no longer suitable for the system it was designed for should not be used for any other purpose. Users should be aware that each steel wire rope accessories has a specific efficiency rating, which may reduce the working load of the rope system. This must be fully considered when determining the load-bearing capacity of the lifting system.