Robin Kiefer 
January 31, 2017 
We’ve got great pallet handling questions coming in through our articles – keep them coming please!
These inquiries are always interesting because they transcend the more general guidelines set forth by various regulatory agencies.
Calculating Loads for Safe Pallet Stacking
The latest question was regarding safe pallet stacking; specifically, how to safely calculate maximum pallet loads when stacking pallets.
Question:
Q: Hi Robin. We place four 55 gallon drums of juice onto a pallet. Each drum is about 450 pounds. We want to stack these pallets of juice on top of each other in our freezer. How high can we stack these? Since it is sitting on a cement floor I assume this would be figured out as a static load. We have 40 by 48 wooden pallets. Since our finished pallets are not subjected to other forces (Dynamic, conveyors, racking) the static load can exceed the dynamic rating of the pallet. Is this an accurate statement?
My Initial Reaction
Whoa, 1,800 pounds of juice on each pallet is serious business. I can see why this is important; overloaded pallets are dangerous. Plus, upsetting 220 gallons of juice would result in a costly, time-consuming mess.
Answer:
This is not an accurate statement, necessarily. At some point, you will be moving the juice onto the pallet and stacking the pallets, exceeding the dynamic load during the process could be disastrous and should be avoided.
For safety’s safe, please make sure the following guidelines are followed:
- The load per pallet load cannot exceed: the pallet’s dynamic load capacity.
- The total load of the stacked pallets cannot exceed: the pallet’s static load capacity.
The safe number of laden pallets per stack will depend on your pallet’s load capacities. Please use this formula to calculate the safe number of pallets per stack:
RoundDown (Static Load Per Pallet Total Laden Weight Per Pallet)
Example: Static Load Per Pallet is 10000 lbs, Dynamic Load Per Pallet 2200 lbs, Total Laden Weight Per Pallet is 2100 lbs
Round Down 10000/2100 = Round Down 4.76 = 4 Pallets!
As long as the total weight of the stacks doesn’t exceed the bottom pallet’s Static Load Capacity, you should be fine.
But once you have completed your stack, do not move any multiple pallet stacks unless the bottom pallet load is safely under the Dynamic Load capacity.
Thanks for the question and let us know if you need help finding the most competitive price for your plastic pallets and container bins. We’ll be happy to help you with any performance calculations you may have!
About Robin Kiefer
Robin Spencer Kiefer connects customers with solutions and products. Robin is the Digital Marketing Manager of One Way Solutions.
Hello
Could you help us to calculate the maximum of carton (filled by canned tuna) can be loaded in the wooden pallet ?
As additional information :
1 Carton consists 6 cans of canned tuna
1 canned tuna is 2.2 Kg
Actually we would like to load this products into a 40 feet container
We need your advice and recommendation soon
Thank you
If I know the static load capacity, what is the ratio of the dynamic load capacity to static load capacity? s there a formula?
There is no formula to relate dynamic load capacity to static capacity for plastic pallets, but thank you for asking.