News

Most of us know the saying “spreading the load”, and most of us know the outcome of doing so is “good”.

It applies in all sorts of situations: organising work Christmas parties, carrying boxes as your family moves house, and when storing and loading drums on your PIG Spill Containment Pallet or Deck.

Here’s why: just as helping someone organise the work Christmas function helps save their sanity and pitching in to carrying boxes as you move house helps save everyone’s fraying nerves (by making it quicker), spreading the load on your safety pallets and decks also “saves” — in this case, it saves them from cracking due to inappropriate loading.

So here comes another saying: prevention is better than cure, because while the pallets and decks are tough (they’re Pig tough…), being loaded without thought rather reduces their lifetime — and your investment. 

Each deck or pallet has a Uniform Distribution Load (UDL), which is its weight rating. For instance, the PIG Poly Drip Deck has a UDL of 680kg, while the PIG Poly Spill Containment Pallet has a UDL getting near 3 tonnes (2,721kg).

The UDL means the pallet or deck can support that amount of weight — and here’s the key — when it is distributed evenly over the surface. So if a pallet or deck fails, it’s not the weight that’s done it, but how that weight was distributed.

Pallets and decks are designed for drums and most totes. These containers all have large footprints that distribute their load, but there are some portable tanks and totes which have feet, and these feet actually force the container’s weight onto one small section of the pallet. It’s the same reason why stiletto heels and pogo sticks dig holes into soft timber floors: the weight is forced into the area of that tiny heel or pole. 

In the case of containers with feet, the tank or tote is stored onto just a few isolated spots instead of spreading it over the deck or pallet’s whole surface. This can cause problems from a little dent in the grate (which is telling you there’s going to be a problem) to an stress fracture that can cause the grate to fail.

Avoiding these problems just takes a bit of care: for containers (with feet) that are less than  40cm (16”) square, pop a 30cm (12”) square piece of 1cm (0.5”) plywood or 30mm (1/8”) steel plate on the pallet under each foot, and this will help spread the load over a larger surface area.

For help in choosing the right type of spill containment pallets and decks for your facility, call us on 1800 HOT HOG (468 464). Or get in touch with us.