Rigging gear, lowering devices: what the sources say
What TCI Magazine, the SafeWork NSW code and the HSE lifting equipment page say about lowering devices used on the ground in tree rigging: the kinds, what each can and cannot do, who may repair one, and which standard covers it.
Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 9, 2026. Rules, fees and pay change: the source has the last word.
This page reports what the named codes, regulators and makers say. It is not training and does not teach the work. This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It covers one type of rigging gear, the device that takes the rope friction when a cut section is lowered. All pages were read on October 9, 2026. The courses that teach rigging are in the guides on chainsaw tickets and certifications by country, and the UK award is on the page for aerial tree rigging. The load rules that apply to every lowering system are on the page about lowering loads.
Credits. Wording from the SafeWork NSW Tree works code of practice is adapted under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence, with sentences shortened and reworded. Wording from HSE is adapted from a page licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. TCI Magazine is described in our own words with a link.
Kinds of lowering device, as TCI Magazine describes them
The Tree Care Industry Association's magazine ran an article on tips and best practices for using lowering devices on July 1, 2021. It looks at three kinds. The first is a portable rope-friction device mounted near the base of the tree on a rope sling and used to lower loads one ground person could not hold alone without extra friction. The author says it was invented to replace rope wraps taken on the trunk, where the friction depended on the bark of the host tree, and that it gives a constant amount of friction. The second is a winch-style friction-control device that the article says can lift as well as lower and that uses fairleads to guide the rope. The third is a spool-style device with a metal spool on a shaft, mounted with a strap.
The article's own lists give the first kind as simple, easy to use, good for negative rigging, easy on the rope, and low in cost, and as unable to lift and not fully attached to the tree, so that it inverts when not under tension. For the winch and spool kinds it lists limited ability to absorb impact in negative rigging, more so for the winch kind than the spool kind, and says the winch kind can lift. It also defines working load limit as the maximum working load set by the maker, worked out by dividing the minimum breaking load by a safety factor.
SafeWork NSW: what the code says about the device
In the SafeWork NSW Tree works code of practice, lowering devices are described as equipment attached at the base of a tree to take wraps of the lowering rope. The code says lowering equipment is proprietary manufactured and load rated, that its rated strength is known before use and shown by a label, stamp or plate, the manual or a lifting equipment register, and that lowering devices are modified or repaired only by the manufacturer. It says friction can be added or removed depending on the weight of the load, that the operator works out the friction needed with the climber before cutting begins, and that great care is taken when adding or removing wraps while the device is under load. It also says people operating lowering devices are trained and assessed as competent according to the manufacturer's instruction manual.
HSE: the device under the lifting regulations
HSE's page Lifting equipment in arboriculture lists rigging systems for lowering branches as lifting equipment under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998. It says roping down of branches is controlled by using a friction device or other suitable system, and that lifting equipment is clearly marked with its safe working load.
Which standard covers it
None of the three sources names a product standard for a tree lowering device. The NSW code and HSE both point to the maker's rating and marking and to the load rules for lifting equipment, not to a test standard for the device itself.
| Source | Rating or marking | Repair |
|---|---|---|
| SafeWork NSW code | Rated strength known before use; label, stamp, plate, manual or register | Modified or repaired only by the manufacturer |
| HSE lifting equipment page | Safe working load clearly marked | Not published on the page |
| TCI Magazine article | Working load limit set by the maker | Not published in the article |