How You Should Load a Pallet Properly

If ever there occurs any kind of workplace accident, then there can be a few serious repercussions. Not only can it have a dramatic effect on the employees, but also the businesses as a whole. Anyway, you can solve problems with a correct pallet loading system.

Therefore, it will pay you to be more proactive about promoting your workplace health and safety while loading or unloading. Here in this post, we will talk about what you should keep in mind in your pallet loading system.

Make sure that the environment is safe

As an employer, it will be your responsibility to make sure of the working environment that you are going to provide to your staff. It must be as safe and risk-free as it is practically possible.

This also includes ensuring that all your staff adopt safe systems while working with goods and also using pallet loading systems.

How one should load properly a pallet is also very important to prevent any goods from falling over. The standardization of pallets and containers will entail an advantage that can also streamline the way all load units will be put together because boxes are stacked one above the other, to make the best use of the available space.

To guarantee the stability of your whole structure the correct functioning of your pallet loading system is a fundamental requirement. Due to this reason, the trend is now towards cardboard box production that are submultiples of 800 x 1,200 mm for making the best possible use of the entire surface area of your pallets.

Adopt the correct pallet loading sytem

Loading a pallet can be a physical process that will work based on the laws of friction and gravity. Heavier items must be placed always on the bottom and the lighter ones stacked gradually on top until the load becomes complete or the capacity of the pallet is achieved. Once your pallet gets full, it is ready for shipping.

Unfortunately, the best practices of pallet loading are not always correctly followed. Insecure pallet loads can be responsible for many workplace accidents, and that can even lead to unfortunate death too.

The improper functioning of your pallet loading system can also be responsible for untold amounts of product damage as well.

These pallet loading accidents may easily be prevented by taking extra precautions, the proper training, and using the proper equipment in securing warehouse goods.

Knowing what are the best tips for securing properly any large loads can be a part of accident prevention. Also, it can contribute to overall pallet safety.

There are 2 main components to keep the pallets ready for safe shipping.

• One part is making sure that the goods are placed properly on the pallet.
• The other part is securing those placed goods effectively to the pallet itself.

Though, it may sound like simple load securing advice, however, in practice, there are always scopes for mistakes all the time.

The following few things must be always checked for ensuring the proper loading of pallets in any warehouse or production environment:

1. Quality of the pallets

These days, pallets are available in several different sizes and shapes. Generally, pallets are used multiple times, although sometimes they are used only once.

Export pallets should be as cheap as possible. Mostly cheaper woods are used for such pallets, and often their construction is also substandard. On the other hand, pallets designed for multiple uses are sturdy, but can deteriorate with repeated use.

The pallet quality will determine the design of your system. Assuming a certain pallet loading system, the following will be applicable:

• The worse the pallet quality, there will be shorter the distance between the rollers. Any chain conveyors need 3 chains to support low-quality pallets, rather than 2.
• Moreover, poor quality pallet handling will not be able to handle the continuous workloads and the pallets will simply crumble under the pressure. It will end up delaying the production even further, leading to revenue loss.

Such situations can be reduced to quite and extent by automating the pallet inspection at specific points. It can detect the issues in the preliminary stages itself, and the remedial measures can be taken accordingly.

This pallet loading system is going to assess pallets in every possible way, which may include the slats number, the blocks number, the quality, and the load overhang provided on all 4 sides.

If your pallet does not fulfill the above-stated quality, then it will be removed from the line and then presented to operators. This will ensure pallet quality, which means the balance system is implemented lower cost.      

Of course, it will be best to attack the problem at the very source and to make sure that the perfect pallets are used and are also loaded correctly, however, practically, this may not usually be possible.

1. Quality of the pallet load

When you consider the load on your pallet, you must assess its both static and dynamic stability. A more stable load will allow a very efficient pallet transport system.

Unstable pallets will need a stationary or mobile system with a certain soft start and also a soft stop, which means systems with certain frequency-controlled/servo-controlled drive transmissions.

This pallet loading system will allow flexible transport speeds and proper acceleration and deceleration of the system. In case your load is stable, then such regulation systems may not be immediately necessary.

2. Use of stretch film

For making pallet loads more stable certain stretch film is often used. A stretch film can often favor cost-saving measures in practice however, such savings may lead to increased cost somewhere else in the system.

Unstable pallets may need higher specifications after all in terms of the drive train’s control. Also, a loose film can unintentionally activate sensors, which may disrupt the process.

3. Overhang

There are several palletization processes, and each of them may result in a greater or lesser amount of overhang. The overhang may arise when the load protrudes much beyond the pallet’s edge. This could occur in case the load broader, at the top, or is not placed straight.

Truck trailers are usually fixed to max dimensions, and often the projected tolerance is not more than 3 cm. An excessive amount of overhang may lead to damage to your load, the system, and also the truck trailer.

When manually loading the truck trailer, for example by using a fork-lift truck, the driver usually corrects this overhang. Using automated systems, the system will perform this automatically

with automatic inspection, or by installing certain load pushers at the end of your automatic loading system.

By implementing all the above you can improve your pallet loading system.