For international employers · Oil, Gas & EPC
Falisha Manpower recruits riggers from Pakistan for lifting operations — the crews who sling, guide and land loads under cranes and hoists on oil and gas plants, EPC projects, steel erection, power stations, shipyards and shutdowns. We mean industrial rigging for cranes and heavy lifts, not rigging in 3D animation. Holding BEOE Overseas Employment Promoter Licence No. 4035, we take each hire through Pakistan’s regulated route, from practical assessment and selection to medicals, visas and Protector of Emigrants clearance.
A rigger decides how a load is attached and how it travels: estimating its weight and centre of gravity, choosing slings, shackles and spreaders of the right capacity, confirming the gear is fit for use, and controlling the lift with tag lines and signals. Each of those steps is a point where a lift can go wrong, so the practical assessments we arrange test riggers on each of them directly. Many Gulf employers also grade riggers in levels, with each level permitted to take on more complex lifts; because the definitions differ from client to client, we start from what each level may do on your site.
Experienced riggers are a specialist pool rather than a general one, so we do not rely on our existing database alone. We combine it with targeted sourcing through experienced rigging foremen and project networks, arrange a practical assessment for every shortlisted candidate, and for larger headcounts recommend phased batches — a first group with its foreman, followed by further groups as they clear assessment — rather than a single movement. We will not quote numbers before we have searched against your requirement.
Roles & specialisations
Matched to your specification and the work itself, not just a job title.
Attach and detach loads using rigging chosen for the job, inspect slings and hardware before each use, fit tag lines and keep people clear of the load path. They usually work under a senior rigger on repetitive lifts of materials and pipe.
Select rigging for the lift: estimate weight, find the centre of gravity, choose hitches and sling angles, check hardware capacities and work with spreader and lifting beams, then guide the operator through the lift.
Plan and supervise lifts, prepare or check lift plans for critical lifts, lead the pre-lift briefing, coordinate cranes in tandem lifts and decide when to stop work for wind, ground or communication problems.
Direct the crane operator by hand signals or radio, particularly when the operator cannot see the load, and control the exclusion zone around the lift. Sites usually allow only one designated signaller to direct a crane at a time.
Connect columns, beams and bracing at height on industrial buildings, pipe racks and bridges — guiding members into position, fitting temporary bolts and working from harness anchor points and elevating work platforms.
Work with large crawler cranes, lifting beams and multi-crane lifts for vessels, columns and modules, and with jacking and skidding systems where a load is moved without a crane.
Move and set pumps, compressors, heat-exchanger bundles and large valves inside plants using chain blocks, lever hoists, jacks, rollers and skates, often in congested units during shutdowns.
Sling and land loads with deck, gantry and mobile cranes in shipyards, ports and supply bases, where vessel motion, wind and tight quaysides add to the lifting risk.
Keep the lifting-equipment register, carry out pre-use and periodic checks, quarantine damaged gear and apply the site’s tagging or colour-code system so that only inspected equipment reaches the workface.
Before you hire
The distinctions that decide whether a hire works on your project.
Level I, II and III riggers are common terms in the Gulf, but what each level may do — select rigging, sign a lift plan, supervise a tandem lift — varies by client and procedure. Send us your definitions and the assessments are set against them, not against a candidate’s own description of their level.
Routine lifts of known loads well within a crane’s capacity need competent riggers. Critical lifts — heavy loads close to the crane’s rated capacity, tandem lifts, lifts over live plant or lifts involving people — need a written lift plan and a supervisor able to prepare or challenge it. Plan the crew around the lifts you actually have.
On many routine lifts a rigger also signals, but blind lifts and heavy lifts usually need a dedicated signaller in radio contact with the operator. Signal charts differ between procedures too, so tell us which chart your site uses and the language spoken on the radio.
Plant riggers mostly move equipment at or near grade inside process units, often under permit-to-work. Steel-erection riggers connect members at height under fall protection. The hazards and skills are different, so specify which work you need or how the crew divides between them.
A lift depends on the operator, riggers, signaller and supervisor working to one plan. If you are also hiring crane operators, recruiting and assessing them alongside the riggers means the team has used the same signals and procedure before it reaches site.
Your requirement
The more precise the brief, the more precise the shortlist. Anything you are unsure of, we work out with you.
Standards & qualifications
Qualifications, codes and licences candidates may hold or be assessed against — you decide which apply.
Covers the fabrication, attachment, use, inspection, testing and maintenance of slings made from alloy steel chain, wire rope, metal mesh, synthetic fibre rope, synthetic webbing and polyester roundslings. Riggers on ASME-based projects are expected to apply its inspection requirements before slings go into service.
Applies to detachable hardware used for load handling — shackles, links, rings, swivels, turnbuckles, eyebolts, hoist rings, wire rope clips, wedge sockets, rigging blocks and load indication devices — including its installation, inspection and use.
The B30 volume for crawler, locomotive and wheel-mounted cranes. Riggers and signallers working with mobile cranes on ASME-based projects should know its operating practices and the standard hand signals site charts draw on.
BSI’s code of practice for the safe use of cranes, covering the planning and management of lifting operations with a risk-based approach to lift planning. Projects that follow British practice build their lift planning and lifting-team roles on the BS 7121 series.
ISO 15513 sets competency requirements for crane operators, slingers, signallers and their assessors; ISO 23853 specifies the minimum training for trainee slingers and signallers to reach that competency. Together they help you set out what a slinger or signaller must show.
Candidates may hold third-party cards such as CCO Rigger Level I or II and Signalperson certifications, each with written and practical exams, or certificates from courses accredited by LEEA, the Lifting Equipment Engineers Association, whose scheme covers training delivered by its member companies. We confirm cards with the issuer where possible; they support, but do not replace, your own assessment.
Assessment
Arranged to your criteria before you interview, so you evaluate ability rather than a CV.
Candidates sort a mixed set of slings, shackles, hooks and hardware into fit and unfit, finding defects such as broken wires, kinks, cut or heat-damaged webbing, stretched links, bent pins and missing identification, and explain why each rejected item must be withdrawn.
From a drawing or a sample load, candidates estimate weight and centre of gravity, choose a hitch and sling length, allow for the effect of sling angle on leg tension and select hardware with an adequate working load limit. Senior riggers also check the lift against a crane load chart at the planned radius.
At a training yard in Pakistan, each rigger slings a test load with multi-leg slings and shackles, fits tag lines, sets the exclusion zone and directs a trial lift, and is assessed on balance, hitch choice, load control and communication with the operator.
Signalmen and riggers give the hand signals on your chart and run a radio-directed blind lift, then answer scenario questions — rising wind, a lost signal, a snagged load — on when and how to stop a lift.
Supervisors review a sample lift plan and identify what is missing or wrong, such as rigging weight left out of the total load, ground conditions, radius or exclusion zones. Your lifting superintendent, a nominated third-party certification body or a live video link can observe every stage; where a third-party card is needed, that body conducts its own test and issues the card.
How it works
From your requirement to workers on site.
We go through your lift categories, cranes, rigger-level definitions, standards and signal chart, headcount and dates, and agree what each level must demonstrate in assessment.
Alongside our candidate database, we search through referrals from experienced rigging foremen, former Gulf riggers and contractor networks in Pakistan, focusing on candidates who have worked with the cranes and loads you described.
Experience letters, project lists and any rigger or signaller cards are reviewed; cards are confirmed with the issuing body where it offers verification, and helpers presenting themselves as riggers are filtered out.
Shortlisted candidates complete the gear-inspection, load-working, rig-and-lift and signalling tests, with lift-plan review for supervisors, observed by your side if you wish.
Your lifting superintendent questions the riggers who passed, online or face to face in Pakistan, and can take each candidate through one of your own lift plans before deciding.
If your client wants riggers to arrive holding a third-party card, we book that test with a certifying body you accept wherever it can be taken before departure. For Saudi Arabia we check the visa occupation against the notified list and schedule skill verification only where it applies, while medicals, attestation and the visa application run in parallel.
Each rigger is registered with BEOE and cleared by the Protector of Emigrants before departure, batch by batch for phased crews.
For larger crews, a first group travels with its rigging foreman to start inductions and early lifts, and further groups follow as they clear assessment and documentation, timed to your lifting programme or shutdown window.
Sourcing
Pakistan’s refineries, fertiliser complexes, power stations, steel and cement plants and ports all depend on lifting crews, so riggers commonly learn the trade on working plant before they go abroad.
Many Pakistani riggers have worked under Gulf lifting procedures and third-party certification regimes on earlier contracts. We confirm that history through experience letters and cards rather than taking it on trust.
Riggers, signalmen and crane operators can be sourced and tested together in Pakistan, so the lifting team you receive has been tested against one signal chart and one procedure before mobilisation.
Pay & terms
Rigger pay is set by the employer and written into the employment contract. It tends to rise with level and responsibility: senior riggers who select rigging, foremen who plan critical lifts and holders of client-accepted third-party cards are valued above riggers on routine lifts, and steel erection at height or long shutdown shifts also count. Accommodation, food, transport, overtime and rotation shape how candidates compare offers.
Because experienced riggers are a specialist pool, an offer that undervalues the level you need is a common cause of slow shortlists and late withdrawals. Settle in advance who pays for third-party certification and renewals, and how a failed re-test on arrival is handled. We can review the package structure with you while planning the requirement.
No rigger should pay unlawful recruitment fees to secure the job. The pay, allowances, hours and certification terms agreed at selection must appear in the contract submitted for emigration clearance.
Compliance & trust
Falisha Manpower recruits under Overseas Employment Promoter Licence No. 4035, issued by the Bureau of Emigration & Overseas Employment (BEOE), Government of Pakistan.
Every selected worker is processed through BEOE and Protector of Emigrants formalities before departure — the legal route for Pakistani workers taking overseas employment.
Workers are not charged unlawful fees and their passports are not retained. Terms are documented in the employment contract before travel.
You set the specification and the acceptance criteria, and you make every final hiring decision — we source, coordinate, document and mobilise.
Read our quality policy, anti-trafficking statement, or report recruitment fraud. Licence status can be checked with the BEOE.
Sectors
Destinations
Subject to active employer demand and each destination’s visa and work-permit requirements.
FAQ
References: Bureau of Emigration & Overseas Employment (BEOE) · NAVTTC — Pakistan–Saudi Arabia Skill Verification Program (approved trades) · ASME — B30 standards (B30.9 Slings; see also B30.26 Rigging Hardware and B30.5 Mobile Cranes) · BSI — BS 7121-1:2016 Code of practice for safe use of cranes · ISO 23853:2023 — Cranes: training of slingers and signallers · CCO (NCCCO) — Rigger Level I and II certification · Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA)
Last updated 10 November 2026. General guidance for employers; destination rules change, so requirements are confirmed for each recruitment.
Send us the role, numbers, specification, destination and joining date. We will review it, confirm what the assessment must prove, and give you a realistic plan.
