Winch Safety First: Factor 55 Safety Links

The “safety thimble” is not a totally new concept to the winching and rigging industry, but it is growing like crazy in the last five years. Winches are incredibly dangerous devices. You are dealing with a multitude of moving parts, pinch zones and potentially lethal cables under extremely high load.

Factor55’s safety links are milled from billet aluminum, and fully take the guesswork out of the dangerous task of handling a winch hook. The links are made to be larger than the opening of a roller or hawse fairlead to ensure that the hook cannot pass back through towards the winch drum making an inescapable crush point, and are closed loop systems so that proper winch handling is forced to be used. The closed loop system means that D-shackles have to be used during the initial rigging process. The products like the Flatlink also have been engineered for stress in various, non-normal positions other than just straight-on pulls. They have also been designed to be winched flat against the fairlead of your vehicle, which means the cable is under a constant light load when stored and ready to be used, and if you are using synthetic rope, it is tucked nicely away on the winch-drum away from degrading UV light.

What this means for you is a considerably stronger product, and a much safer winching environment, and how dangerous winching can be, we need all the help we can get. There is a saying that goes something along the lines of, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”