Pallet Safety Tips to Avoid Injury

Mar 05, 2024

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a warehouse employee inspects a pallet shipment on a forklift before it is placed in a semi truck

According to one recent study, more than 30,000 people visited the emergency room due to some type of injury involving pallets either at home or in a retail location between 2014 and 2018. Pallets seem straightforward, but due to their weight and configuration, they can be quite dangerous if you're not careful. That's why, if you want to take steps to avoid injury when working with or around pallets, there are a number of key things you'll want to keep in mind.

Safety Tips When Handling Pallets

Inspecting Your Pallets

Prior to using any pallet, you need to carefully inspect it to make sure you're fully aware of its current status. This means looking for not only obvious signs of wear and tear like missing boards, but also loose nails, significant splinters, cracks, and more. Any of these could signify a weakness that will only be exacerbated once you start to load and actually use the pallet. You may not have an issue now, but it would be bad for the pallet to be damaged during transit (and take critical products along with it).

Lifting Pallets the Right Way

Always use the proper type of equipment when lifting your pallets and do so from the appropriate sides. If for some reason you have to lift a pallet by hand, rely on at least two employees (if not more) to avoid any serious injuries during the process.

Mitigating Fire Hazard Risk

Whenever you're not actively using your pallets, you need to make sure that they're properly stored in a way that minimizes the risk of a potential fire as much as possible. Obviously, they're made of wood, so you don't want to store them near anything flammable. You should also take care to make sure that they're being stored in adherence with the local fire code so that even if there is an unrelated fire in the building, people can still safely get out.

Distributing Weight Evenly

Whenever you load products onto a pallet, make sure that the weight is distributed as evenly as possible. If the weight is localized too much in one particular area, you run the risk of creating a tipping hazard without realizing it. Likewise, you never want to allow any box or product to hang over the sides of the pallet for similar reasons.

Stacking Pallets Correctly

Never, under any circumstances, stack your pallets or lean them on their sides. You need to always stack them perfectly flat. The stack itself should not exceed four feet in height. Anything beyond that is a major tipping hazard that, given the weight of even one pallet, you would definitely want to avoid.

Wearing PPE Equipment

Finally, always wear personal protective equipment (PPE) when safely working with pallets. This includes not only gloves to protect your hands from issues like splinters, but also protection for your eyes, back, and legs as well.

If you'd like to find out more information about the types of pallet safety tips you can use to avoid injury, or if you'd just like to talk about your business' own needs with someone in a bit more detail, please don't delay - contact Advance Pallet today.