Users of Black Diamond Nylon Runners should check their slings

A gear manufacturer is urging climbers and mountaineers to check their equipment after potentially serious defects were found in samples.

Black Diamond has issued a voluntary recall for some of its nylon slings and carabiners.

The Salt Lake City based company said anyone who has the affected models should not use them before they have inspected them.

A Black Diamond spokesperson said: “There have been no accidents reported involving these products. As the safety of our customer is first priority to Black Diamond, we decided to communicate widely to the public, the media and our retail partners as following.

“A Black Diamond dealer contacted us after finding a nylon sling with a taped splice. We immediately stopped production and delivery of nylon slings and issued a recall.”

Any sling with the defect will not be load-bearing, so a fall would not be protected.

The company said: “During the manufacturing process, the tubular nylon webbing used in our Nylon Runners is wound onto spools that may contain multiple strands of nylon webbing. These strands are connected by taped splices that, if undetected in the inspection process, could be included in a finished Nylon Runner.

“We have determined the scope of potentially affected units and issued a recall, subject to inspection, of all Nylon Runners potentially affected by the issues we discovered.

“Furthermore, we have worked with the webbing manufacturer to eliminate the use of tape splices in the spools of nylon webbing used in our Nylon Runners.”

The recall notice covers Black Diamond 18mm Nylon Runners of both 120cm and 60cm length, with either a 2014 or 2015 manufacturing label.

Inspection instructions and information on returning defective slings are on the Black Diamond website.

Black Diamond carabiners should be checked before using

Black Diamond said: “During a routine inspection of product, we discovered a carabiner with an incomplete gate rivet. We immediately stopped production and delivery of all affected carabiners and issued a recall.

“We have determined the scope of potentially affected units and issued a recall, subject to inspection, of all carabiners potentially affected by the issues we discovered.

“Furthermore, we have undertaken a complete review of our carabiner inspection process to ensure that individual testing of carabiners is properly implemented. For added security, product that has gone through this more rigorous testing process has been labelled with a green sticker. All products shipped after the date of this recall will have a green sticker.”

Customers will need to check solid gate carabiners’ gates are properly riveted. For wiregate carabiners, users need to ensure gate wire ends are properly formed; for screwgate-locking carabiners, owners need to inspect the gates and locking sleeves to see they are assembled correctly and function properly.

For all models, users should verify gates fully close when released from any position.

More detailed instructions for inspecting, along with information on returning defective items, are on the Black Diamond website.