man basket nameplate requirements

Man Basket Nameplate and Markings: What OSHA and ASME B30.23 Require8 min read

/ Quality and Safety / By

Every crane-suspended man basket has a plate or marking on it somewhere. What’s actually required to be on that plate depends on which standard you’re reading. OSHA’s rule is short and sets a bare floor. ASME B30.23, the engineering standard most man baskets are also built to, asks for quite a bit more. Here’s what each one actually requires, and how a real Lifting Technologies data plate maps to both.

What’s covered

What OSHA 1926.1431(e)(12) requires

The full text of the OSHA requirement, verified against the current regulation at osha.gov, reads:

“The weight of the platform and its rated capacity must be conspicuously posted on the platform with a plate or other permanent marking.”

That’s the entire requirement. Two pieces of information, weight and rated capacity, posted conspicuously, on a plate or other permanent marking. The text doesn’t specify a plate material, size, font, mounting location, or any additional data fields. It’s a floor, not a full specification.

What ASME B30.23 requires: the identification plate

ASME B30.23-2022, Section 23-1.2.1(7), covers the same topic in considerably more detail. Under the construction requirements for a personnel lifting platform, the standard requires an identification plate located where it protects against damage and allows easy viewing from both the interior of the platform while it’s hoisted and the exterior while it isn’t. At minimum, the plate has to display:

  1. Manufacturer name and address
  2. Platform rating in terms of weight and personnel
  3. Platform identification number
  4. Suspension system description for suspended platforms, or the intended hoisting equipment manufacturer identification for boom-attached platforms
  5. Weight of the empty platform and its suspension system
  6. Date of the platform’s manufacture
  7. Certification of compliance to the design, construction, and testing requirements of the standard
  8. A listing of any unique operational environments the platform has been designed for

This is a meaningfully longer list than OSHA’s two-item minimum, and it’s the standard that actually drives most of what you’ll find on a well-built man basket’s data plate in practice.

What’s actually on a Lifting Technologies data plate

Rather than describe this in the abstract, here’s what’s actually printed on a Lifting Technologies Premier Series data plate:

  • Model number and serial number
  • Platform only weight
  • Trial lift / proof test weight
  • Man basket gross weight
  • Maximum rated uniform load capacity
  • Recommended occupancy, stated as a specific number of people
  • “For lifting personnel only”
  • Manufacturer name, manufacturing date, city and state, and phone number
  • A QR code linking to online resources

One detail worth noting: on the specific plate referenced here, the trial lift/proof test weight is set at exactly 125% of the maximum rated uniform load capacity, which lines up precisely with the proof testing requirement in 1926.1431(j) and the proof testing requirement in ASME B30.23 Section 23-2.2.1. The plate isn’t just listing information, it’s doing part of the math for the rigging crew ahead of time.

Mapping LT’s plate against the ASME checklist

Going item by item against the eight fields ASME B30.23 asks for:

  • Manufacturer name and address: Present, manufacturer name, city, state, and phone number are all on the plate. Whether a city/state listing satisfies “address” as the standard intends, versus a full street address, is worth confirming.
  • Platform rating (weight and personnel): Present, maximum rated uniform load capacity and recommended occupancy are both listed.
  • Platform identification number: Present, via the serial number and model number.
  • Suspension system description: Not visibly present on this plate. This is a genuine gap between the ASME checklist and what’s printed, worth confirming with engineering, since it’s possible this information is provided elsewhere in the platform’s documentation rather than on the plate itself.
  • Weight of the empty platform and its suspension system: The plate lists “platform only weight” and, separately, “man basket gross weight.” It’s not clear from the plate alone whether “platform only weight” includes the suspension system’s weight or excludes it, which matters for matching this field precisely. Worth confirming which figure, if either, represents platform-plus-suspension-system weight as ASME intends.
  • Date of manufacture: Present.
  • Certification of compliance: Not printed directly on the plate. Lifting Technologies platforms ship with a separate Certificate of OSHA Compliance in a documentation tube, and the plate includes a QR code to online resources, so this requirement may be satisfied through those channels rather than on the plate itself. Worth confirming whether that certificate specifically references ASME B30.23 compliance, and whether the QR code links to it.
  • Unique operational environments: Not shown on this plate, which is likely appropriate for a standard configuration. Worth confirming this field would be added for custom platforms designed for a specific environment.

Three of the eight items above are flagged as open questions rather than confirmed matches. That’s intentional. Where the plate clearly satisfies a requirement, this article says so. Where it’s ambiguous or the information may live elsewhere, it says that instead.

A missing or damaged plate

The identification plate provision itself, ASME B30.23 Section 23-1.2.1(7), doesn’t include a removal-from-service clause. But ASME B30.23 addresses this elsewhere, in the standard’s Mandatory Appendix III, Pre-Lift Inspection. That appendix requires a designated person to check “Markings — Platform (all information legible)” as a specific pass/fail item before every lift, alongside the suspension system markings. The standard is explicit: any item found unsatisfactory on that checklist must be corrected before lifting personnel.

In practice, that means an illegible or missing data plate isn’t just a paperwork issue. It’s a specific, named item on the pre-lift inspection every ASME B30.23-compliant lift is required to go through, and failing that item is grounds to stop the lift until it’s corrected. Safety managers and OSHA inspectors with field experience on personnel hoisting sites report seeing this play out directly: a lift held or stopped because a data plate was missing or too worn to read, with no way to confirm the platform’s capacity on the spot.

What ASME B30.23 does specify about the plate itself is location: it has to be placed where it’s protected from damage and easy to view from both inside and outside the platform, which reduces how often this situation comes up in the first place.

How the plate fits into the larger documentation picture

The nameplate is the fastest thing to check in the field, but it isn’t the only documentation a compliant platform should have behind it. We’ve covered this in more depth elsewhere: a platform that can be defended in front of an auditor should also have drawings showing dimensions and lift points, proof-load test records tied to that specific serial number, and clear written limits on how the platform is meant to be used. See our full breakdown in How Crane Personnel Platforms Are Load Tested, Certified, and Inspected.

FAQs

What does OSHA require on a crane man basket nameplate? Under 1926.1431(e)(12), the platform’s weight and rated capacity must be conspicuously posted on a plate or other permanent marking. That’s the full text of the requirement.

What does ASME B30.23 require on a man basket identification plate? Considerably more than OSHA. Section 23-1.2.1(7) requires manufacturer name and address, platform rating in weight and personnel, platform ID number, suspension system description, weight of the empty platform and suspension system, date of manufacture, certification of compliance, and any unique operational environments the platform was designed for, located where it’s protected from damage and visible from both inside and outside the platform.

Does a Lifting Technologies data plate meet both standards? It clearly satisfies OSHA’s two-item requirement and several of ASME’s eight items directly, model/serial number, platform rating, occupancy, and date of manufacture among them. A few ASME items, suspension system description, an explicit compliance certification statement, and unique operational environments, aren’t visibly printed on the plate itself and may be addressed through separate documentation. This is confirmed internally rather than assumed.

Is a missing or damaged nameplate a specific violation under either standard? The identification plate provision itself doesn’t include a removal-from-service clause in either standard. But ASME B30.23’s Mandatory Appendix III requires markings legibility to be checked as a specific pass/fail item on the pre-lift inspection every lift must go through, and any unsatisfactory item must be corrected before lifting personnel. Experienced safety managers and OSHA inspectors report exactly this happening in the field: lifts held or stopped over a missing or unreadable data plate.

Does the nameplate replace the need for proof-load test records? No. The nameplate is a quick field reference. Proof-load test records, design drawings, and written use limits are the documentation that actually backs up what’s stamped on the plate, tied together by the serial number.

Every LT platform is marked, tested, and documented to back it up

Every Lifting Technologies man basket ships with a data plate and supporting documentation, backed by a Certificate of OSHA compliance and proof-load test records specific to that unit.

Talk to our team about a platform with documentation you can defend on-site or in an audit.