Every major asset on a transmission project — the conductor, the towers, the equipment — is meticulously inspected, specified and managed with measurable standards. Yet somehow the stringing line, the narrow backbone of every conductor pull, too often remains the one thing that everyone knows very little about. It is an after-thought. That is a risk you cannot afford.

If you’re responsible for fleet or safety on a utility project, it’s time to demand better. Real safety comes from verifiable data.

Why the current inspection standard fails

For decades the industry has leaned on human visual inspection to decide if a rope is fit for service. The problem isn’t that people are incompetent — it’s that the method itself is subjective and therefore cannot be validated.

Consider how fragile the approach is:

• Two inspectors looking at the same rope can reach different conclusions.

• Fatigue, weather, lighting and even a person’s eyesight change an inspection’s outcome.

• The inspector’s experience, motivation and momentary attention determine whether a subtle cut strand or a poor splice is caught.

• A visual pass doesn’t produce a measurable break-strength value that planners can use in engineering calculations.

When your safety control is opinion, you cannot demand a quantifiable level of performance from suppliers, contractors, or your own crews. You can only hope the rope is good enough.

The hard truth about rope health

Scope’s field inspections expose the scale of the problem: 23% of lines are at or below 60% of their rated breaking strength. That means almost a quarter of ropes in service have already lost 40% of their strength. That isn’t a rounding error, it’s a systemic exposure.

Pair that reality with prevailing industry assumptions and you get a dangerous equation. Most ropes are purchased with a 5:1 safety factor (a 20,000 lb rope for a 4,000 lb puller). But many tension calculations assume a full reel — the so-called full-reel fallacy. In practice, as the reel depletes, pay-off dynamics change and a puller can develop far greater tension than the “full-reel” calculation suggests. A 4,000 lb puller can produce in excess of 12,000 lb of tension when the reel is near empty — which is right at the breaking point of a rope that’s degraded to 60% of a 20,000 lb rating.

In short: the full-reel fallacy plus worn rope equals a disaster waiting to happen.

Demand a measurable safety factor — not a visual guess

Utility companies can, and should, insist that every rope on a job meet a verifiable break-strength before it’s used. To do that, the industry must move from subjective inspection to objective measurement.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

• Specify inspection standards in contracts. Require objective, auditable break strength assessment before allowing a reel on a critical pull.

• Adopt event-based inspection policies. Inspect after shocks, repairs, or any condition likely to change rope health.

• Retire by data, not habit. Set minimum acceptable safety factors for different operations and retire rope when measured strength falls below those thresholds.

• Hold suppliers and contractors accountable. If you demand a safety factor, require proof it still meets that rating in the field.

Those are not radical demands; they are basic engineering and risk management.

How Scope makes “demand better” possible

Scope’s computer vision and deep-learning platform gives fleets a practical way to demand and verify real rope performance:

• Break-strength prediction within ±5% of physical test values — a reliable number you can use directly in safety-factor calculations.

• >99% accuracy detecting cut strands, splices and debris — removing the blind spots of human inspection.

• 360° camera coverage so every side of the rope is inspected continuously, not just the one side a person happens to see.

• Operational-speed inspection (accurate up to 8 mph), enabling real-world inspections without staging slowdowns.

• Repeatable, auditable records that let you trend rope health, forecast retirements and verify that required safety factors were met before every critical pull.

That combination turns rope inspection from a subjective checkbox into a measurable engineering control. With Scope, you can actually enforce a demanded break strength — and prove you did it.

Demand better — because you can

There’s no reason the stringing line should be the one asset left to opinion. The tools exist to replace guesswork with measurement, and the facts demand it: nearly one in four ropes is already down to 60% strength or less. That’s unacceptable when the rest of your project is run to certifiable standards.

If you’re managing fleet or safety, insist on objective inspection, event-based policies, and auditable records. Require measurable break strength before every critical pull. When you demand better, contractors will deliver better — and crews and the public will be safer for it.

Safety starts with the small things that everyone overlooks. Remember the rope — and demand that it be proven safe, every single time.