Following the SpanSet incident in July 2010, many NZ arb companies are reevaluating the management of climbing hardware. The primary aim is the ability to track individual items and paramount to this is the serial numbering of hardware.
Load ratings are mandatory on PPE gear, but not all equipment is serial marked. Quality hardware suppliers like DMM.and ISC are moving rapidly in this direction but not all products in the range are marked in such a way - yet.
Some companies have toyed with marking the hardware themselves (with a Dremel) - see previous blog here. As far as Treetools is aware, SMC is the only manufacturer to provide guidelines for the permanent marking of their equipment.Most climbers are not happy with the concept of engraving, regardless of manufacturers recommendations. Tampering with PPE equipment in any way, shape or form just does not feel 'right'.
Mass adoption of serial markings by hardware manufacturers seems the best option - at least DMM and ISC are underway!
