I saw this machine getting flown from one side of the job to the other by the tower crane. I was really surprised by how it was rigged. Is running straps under the tracks like that "acceptable"?
Many of the tracks on those little rigs are a tough flexible rubber type and don’t have very sharp outer edges. So if it's tracks are actually locked somehow, they won’t rotate/roll in the air, then they nylons would likely be ok in a basket like that. The track treads are designed to take the weight of the machine itself so why wouldn’t they be ok as a base to rig all the way under them? The slings are just inside the tumblers and idlers, and they’re also behind an intermediate roller too, so it is less likely to come out there than directly under them. If the machine has dedicated lift points that were ignored tho, then that would be a whole different story. Some guys try to lift from the rollover protection parts, which 'are not for lifting' but to prevent the cab from being crushed inward. That would be worse than what I see here. Just my 2 cents worth. If it had no marked pick points and it lifted as level as this, then I would fly it in clear view. In the blind tho, maybe not. It might get hung up on something and tilt forward or back enough to roll over, so I might refuse if the blind spot was a tight space.
Its pretty common to hoist skids at work . One gent I work with does that same thing , lays the straps down and rolls over them . I haven't been able to bring myself to pick them up that way . I shackle to a solid point .