A safety hook is provided with a spring loaded closure segment normally closing the mouth of the hook. A pin carried by the segment is normally engaged by a spring loaded crank latch. The crank latch prevents the pin and segment from rotating to open the hook mouth until the crank latch is first rotatably released under the influence of a force acting to rotate the latch in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation which would occur under the influence of the force which would be transmitted from the segment to the latch in opening.
