Last week, Catherine Jones, editor of SafetyXChange, received the following question from a SafetyXChange member in response to her article on stacking mismatched items:

"I enjoyed reading your article about stacking oddball sized materials. I have a question. In the article you mentioned that materials should be stacked to a safe height. Is there any guidance or regulations that specify what this height should be for different materials in various forms of packaging such as boxes, pallets, rolls, etc?"

She put the question to me, an advisory board member, asking for my thoughts. Here they are.

Stacking Height Guidelines

There are a few guidelines that address safe stacking heights for different materials, such as:

1. OSHA's standard 1917.14 states that: "Cargo, pallets and other material stored in tiers shall be stacked in such a manner as to provide stability against sliding and collapse."

2. NFPA (I don't recall the standard number) states that, due to fire concerns, empty pallet stacking be limited to 15 feet.

3. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore specifies that the stacking height of goods in palletized rack storage should not exceed 6.0 meters in height.

4. The Asia Food Journal finds that stacking height also affects the package performance, and over time high humidity, storage time and stacking height can all erode the integrity of a stored package. Two proposed solutions are:

Factors that Affect Stacking Height

Having said all of that, and being a consultant, my answer to the question about safe stacking height has to be, "It depends." To determine a safe height, you need to address these questions:

You also need to consider safety and ergonomic issues:

Next is the AHJ - Authority Having Jurisdiction and building codes:

Conclusion

Just like for PPE, you need to perform a hazard assessment to determine the answers. If you're purchasing products, ask the manufacturer what their recommendation on stack height is. If you're the manufacturer, you will need to do some actual tests to make that determination. I hope this helps. Hillmann Group can assist anyone who would like help in developing a testing protocol.

THIS DATE IN HISTORY

Tim Berners-Lee, Internet Pioneer

February 26, 1991

By Ted Morrison

On this date in 1991, software writer Tim Berners-Lee introduced the world's first web browser. Berners-Lee had written the program, called WorldWideWeb and later renamed Nexus to avoid confusion, to allow people to view content on the World Wide Web. (Note that the World Wide Web refers to the ways we access content on the Internet. The Internet is the content; the Web is the means of delivery.)

WorldWideWeb/Nexus had some handy features, some of which had never been available in a browser before. For one thing, it could be used to edit Hypertext Markup Language or HTML, the language Internet content is written in. It was capable of opening any file that was stored online and supported by the NeXTSTEP operating system (a precursor to Mac OS). It could open and display several different windows, and had "Next" and "Previous" buttons to ease navigation. WorldWideWeb also pioneered the creation of links in Web pages.

Rebranded as Nexus, the program dominated the burgeoning browser market for the next two years. Finally, its source code was made public in 1993, turning it into freeware, although the program itself had already been supplanted to a large extent by the Mosaic browser.

Although his browser had finally faded into obsolescence, Tim Berners-Lee went on to continue his work in information technology, and to become Sir Timothy. His Wikipedia bio, accessed with a browser that owes its existence to his pioneering work, credits him as inventor of the World Wide Web.

THE SAFETY PROFESSION AND THE WEB

How Has The Internet Affected Your Job?

By Catherine Jones

When Tim Berners-Lee gave the world the ability to access the Internet, he revolutionized the way many of us work. We're curious - how has access to the internet affected your job? Take our quick survey on safety and the Internet. We'll share the results in a couple of weeks.

Click Here to take survey

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