Protection against loss of downhole tools

A method of protecting against loss of downhole tools in wells, the method comprising the steps of:

• making repeated use of a wire rope to suspend downhole tools in wells, the downhole tools being suspended from a downhole end of the wire rope;
• testing the integrity of the wire rope from time to time according to a maintenance schedule;
• and
• shortening the wire rope when the wire rope fails integrity testing;
• wherein the testing of the integrity of the wire rope comprises performing a test selected from the group consisting of:
• a visual test of corrosion damage;
• a visual test for broken wires in the wire rope;
• a test of the longitudinal strength of at least one wire from the wire rope;
• a test of the stretch of the wire rope;
• a test of the diameter of a wire from the wire rope;
• a test of the diameter of the wire rope;
• a test of the flex strength of a wire from the wire rope;
• a test of the twist strength of a wire from the wire rope;
• and
• a test of the weight of a segment of the wire rope.