5 Tips To Staying Safe When Using Wooden Pallets

Wooden pallets may seem harmless enough, but if not handled correctly they can cause goods to become damaged or people to become injured.  Here are our top tips on using wooden pallets safely:

1.       Ensure your pallets are constructed correctly

It may sound obvious, but a poorly constructed pallet can cause a fair amount of damage – just imagine a forklift truck loaded up with a large consignment, only for the bottle of the wooden pallet to fall out due to shoddy workmanship.  The goods could fall onto the floor and become unfit for use, causing unnecessary waste and expense.

2.       Avoid stacking the pallets too high

Pallets will have an optimum number to which they can be stacked – and if you go over this then you stand a good chance of causing the stack to topple over.  Whilst pallets have been designed to stack easily so as to reduce the amount of floor space needed to store them, take care not to stack the pile too high.

3.       Don’t stack different types of pallets together

European and UK pallets are not the same size, so avoid stacking them in the same pile.  Instead, separate the different types of pallets so that they stack evenly and safely.

4.       Maintain your pallets

Wooden pallets take a lot of knocking about from fork lift trucks when being moved from warehouse to lorries to ferries.  They are therefore at risk from being damaged or broken – but provided they are checked on a regular basis, most pallets can be repaired fairly easily meaning they can be re-used time after time. Inspect each pallet carefully to look for cracks in the wood or any nails showing and repair appropriately.

5.       Be aware of weight limits

Most pallets will have a maximum weight which they can bear – if you place goods on the pallet which exceeds this weight then be prepared for the pallets to break!  Pallets have a weight limit to ensure safety so it is important these rules are followed closely. 

If you need bespoke wooden pallets for your organisation or if you need any additional advice regarding using wooden pallets, feel free to visit the Nicklin website.