Safe material stacking practising and storage prevents serious injury that could cause such materials to collapse if the shelves are inappropriate. Safe stacking reduces injury and fire hazards, improving the efficiency of on-site traffic aisles.
Safe material stacking
Establish priorities for the use of machines, tools and equipment to reduce manual handling hazards. While the material is being lowered by the machine, keep your hands off the load to direct the material. Wear appropriate work gloves and safety boots when manually moving and stacking sharp edges, thorny covers, splinters, and/or heavy loads.
Only stack material in designated areas. Never stack near doors, driveways, or escape routes.
Place the material back while stacking, to promote stability; always on a level surface.
Distribute and place the load in the order that said materials will be used.
Stack materials close to the work area to reduce the amount of handling.
Bricks, Blocks and Materials to place the Pallets
Make sure the top packages are loaded in line with the one below.
Do not place objects on damaged materials or on materials that are moving or leaking.
Leave enough space in the aisle between pallets, packages, etc. to remove them safely.
Material stacking procedure
Pipeline
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Pipes narrow in diameter should be stacked on racks.
If they are wide in diameter, put safety wedges to prevent them from rolling.
Do not leave the pyramids loose as they can be unstable and collapse.
Fixing fairly large concrete flat to the floor prevents unintended movement or rolling.
Access
If materials are to be separated in the workplace there must be a safe and secure point of access to enter the location and beware of sharp objects.
Possible hazardous materials
Certain materials contain contaminants that are dangerous to the health of employees. Especially during handling, it is important to be aware of what you are touching and how to properly stacking.
Presenter Tips
Pre-reading the Discussion Toolbox. Your comfort and confidence level will be higher if you know your subject. Discuss the related tasks, work areas, or events that make the Discussion Toolbox relevant to your workplace. Involve workers through questions and input that leads to discussion.
Questions for Discussion
What should you consider before stacking material on a shelf?
What are the ways to stack materials in an interlocking fashion to increase stability?
What manual handling of materials do you do, which ones can be easier using equipment, tools, etc.?
Does our PPE indicate ALL the hazards related to the materials that we manually handle?
Are materials being stored/stacked near electrical outlets or areas of potential fire, such as; overhead lines, utility warehouses, or too close to fire sprinklers?
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