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26 PalletCentral • September-October 2021 palletcentral.com Outdoors, pallets should be stacked no more than 48 units high, or to roughly 16 feet of overall stack height. Equally important indoors and out, facility owners should ensure pallet stacks are properly spaced apart from each other. A single section of pallet stacks should be no more than 75 feet wide by 150 feet wide, with a minimum of 15 feet of space between arrays to allow for transit and firefighting. Finally, outdoor stacks should be kept at least 50 feet away from buildings, trees and other objects that could catch fire. Protecting People As with any business, pallet facility employees can be a danger to themselves. To avoid accidents, employees should be properly trained in moving and storing pallets. Owners and operators should build a training program that considers the unique operations of their business. For example, they should consider the amount of hot work they do, how much space their equipment needs between stacks and how much space they have in which to operate. Forklifts are also a common source of accidents for pallet manufacturers and distributors. In fact, often reported injuries like splinters and crushed hands stem from forklift operation. Anyone operating a forklift, or other heavy equipment must be properly trained and certified to reduce the risk of injury to both the operator and bystanders. Similarly, team members should be trained in the use of all equipment used in the pallet operation. In addition to equipment training, business owners should ensure that staff receives the training they need to identify broken or failing pallets. Every day, people on the floor should be checking for signs of damage or other factors that could weaken or cause a pallet to fail. By committing time every day, businesses can reduce the amount of splinter incidents and potentially catch a large accident before it happens. Most business owners understand that safety reviews must be a regular part of the workday. Pallet manufacturers and distributors looking to learn more about how to mitigate risk in pallet storage should consider reaching out to an insurer who specializes in the wood niche. ey can often provide advice and tips on how to reduce accidents, prevent fires and store pallets safely. Sheila Gjevre is a business development consultant for PLM with more than 30 years of experience in the insurance space with special expertise as an underwriter. Jeff Evans joined PLM in 2015 as a loss control consultant and has 36 years of loss control experience. His work regularly supports the loss prevention initiatives of policyholders to create safer working environments.

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