This paper is a survey of four recently published guides for the inspection and retirement of fiber ropes, as used for marine hawsers, mooring lines, and other purposes. It is intended to bring these to the attention of marine personnel and others who should be concerned with rope inspection and retirement. Proper inspection and timely retirement of fiber ropes is crucial to avoid personnel injury, death, property damage, and pollution. Most past guides dealt only with generalities and were not very useful. These new guides give specific examples and quantitative criteria for at least some types of rope. This paper briefly summarizes some of the rope inspection and retirement methods and criteria provided in these guides. It includes the authors' experience and advice. It makes reference to other relevant guidelines and technical papers.
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