🛢️ Standard & approval
Saudi Aramco GI Requirements for Lifting Equipment
Saudi Aramco applies its own safety and engineering requirements to contractors through General Instructions (GI), standards and project procedures, invoked by the contract, the work order and the site rules. For lifting equipment inspection and heavy equipment, the instructions contractors meet most often address cranes and lifting equipment, personnel baskets, rigging, operator competence and inspection records, with references such as the current revision of Saudi Aramco GI 7.030 (cranes and lifting equipment) and GI 7.027 (personnel baskets). Which instruction and revision applies is set by your contract and confirmed by the Aramco project team, so check it rather than assume it. This page explains what these expectations mean in practice and how EES aligns its third-party inspection, load testing, reporting and training to them.
Our work is aligned with these requirements
EES inspection, testing and training are aligned with the requirements of this standard.
Ask us for our current approval documentation and scope before you rely on it for a tender, contractor prequalification or site-access requirement.
What it means for contractors
- ✓Treat the instructions your contract invokes as binding site rules, not guidance. If a GI applies, the equipment, the people operating it and the paperwork on file all have to meet it, and the client's inspectors or HSE staff can stop a lift or turn equipment away when they do not.
- ✓Crane and lifting-equipment requirements, such as the current revision of Saudi Aramco GI 7.030, typically deal with a documented inspection regime, function and load testing where required, safe working load marking, working rated-capacity and safety devices, competent operators and riggers, and a lift plan for non-routine and critical lifts. Exact scope, intervals and thresholds come from the current text and your contract, so work from the copy you were issued.
- ✓Lifting people with a crane is treated as an exception. Requirements such as the current revision of GI 7.027 address personnel baskets (manbaskets), and the concerns usually include basket design and marking, proof testing, inspection before use and the conditions under which a basket lift is allowed at all. ASME B30.23 covers personnel lifting systems in the same area. Where a MEWP can do the job, it is generally the lower-risk option.
- ✓Revisions matter. Instructions are revised, and a contract may fix the revision that applies at award or call for the latest one. Quote the instruction number and revision on every inspection request and keep the issued copy in the project file, so a reviewer can see which text the report was checked against.
- ✓People are assessed as well as plant. Operators, riggers, signallers and lifting supervisors are commonly expected to show training and competence evidence that matches the equipment and the lift, and certificates are checked against the person presenting them.
- ✓Recognised codes sit underneath the instruction. Client instructions often work alongside codes such as the ASME B30 series, ANSI/ITSDF B56.1 for forklifts, ISO 4309 for wire rope and manufacturer specifications, so a report that names the code and method used is far easier for a client reviewer to accept.
How EES supports compliance
- ✓We confirm the requirement before we quote: which GI and revision, which project procedure, and whether the client names an inspection scheme or tag. The inspection scope is then built around that requirement, not a generic checklist.
- ✓Scope follows the instruction you give us together with ASME B30 practice: documentation review, visual and structural examination, function and safety-device tests (rated-capacity limiter or load-moment indicator, anti-two-block, limit switches), load testing where required, and verification of safe working load and markings.
- ✓Reports identify each item (make, model, serial number, capacity), the standard and method used, the findings and the competent person who signed, laid out so site HSE and quality reviewers can check them against the instruction you name.
- ✓Defects are graded by severity with a corrective-action list, and items marked as closed are re-inspected, so a conditional pass is never left open without an owner.
- ✓Operator, rigger and lifting supervisor courses are structured so the competence evidence (attendance, theory and practical assessment records, certificates) fits what the project checks at the gate. Rigger levels vary by client scheme, so we align content to the level your project defines.
- ✓We say plainly what we can and cannot provide under a given client scheme. If a project requires an inspection body listed by Aramco, ask us for our current approval status and reference, and we confirm in writing before work starts what we can certify for your project.
Related services
Inspection, testing and training that support this requirement.
Third-Party Inspection (TPI) for Aramco Projects
Independent inspection of cranes, lifting gear and heavy equipment before mobilisation to Aramco sites, prepared for Saudi Aramco GI and client requirements.
Learn more →Crane Inspection & Certification
Mobile, tower, overhead and crawler crane inspection with certificates.
Learn more →Lifting Equipment Inspection & Load Testing
Third-party load testing of cranes, hoists, slings, shackles and lifting accessories.
Learn more →MEWP, Boom Lift and Manbasket Inspection
Inspection and function testing of boom lifts, scissor lifts, swing stages and crane manbaskets, with report, certificate and tag for Saudi sites.
Learn more →Rigging and Lifting Gear Inspection
Thorough examination and certification of wire rope, chain and web slings, shackles, hooks, hoists and lifting beams, with colour-coding and registers.
Learn more →Heavy Equipment Testing & Inspection
Third-party inspection and load testing for cranes, excavators, bulldozers and forklifts.
Learn more →FAQs
What are Saudi Aramco General Instructions (GI)?＋
They are Aramco's own safety, engineering and operating instructions that contractors have to follow on Aramco work. Which ones apply, and in which revision, is set by your contract or work order, so ask your Aramco project contact or main contractor for the current text and work from that rather than from an older copy.
Which Saudi Aramco instruction covers cranes and lifting equipment?＋
Contractors commonly refer to requirements such as Saudi Aramco GI 7.030 for cranes and lifting equipment and GI 7.027 for personnel baskets. Always work from the current revision supplied with your contract, because requirements, intervals and revision levels can change, and confirm the applicable clauses with your Aramco project contact.
Is EES an Aramco approved third-party inspection company?＋
Approval to inspect on Aramco work is Aramco's decision under its own process, can be limited to a scope, and is shown by documents rather than by a web page. Ask us for our current approval status, its scope and its reference, and check it against your contract before you book. EES aligns its inspections and reports to Saudi Aramco GI requirements, and we confirm in writing what we can certify for your project before work starts.
Can you inspect our equipment before it mobilises to an Aramco site?＋
Yes. A pre-mobilisation inspection against a GI-aligned checklist finds defects, missing documents and marking problems while there is still time to fix them. We inspect at your yard or site in Dammam, Al Khobar, Jubail, Ras Tanura and across the Kingdom.