Fire rated plastic pallets and sprinklers

What a listing buys

The ICC Building Safety Journal explains that the pallet material affects the fire hazard classification of a stored commodity. If a plastic pallet is listed, the building may be able to treat the stack more favourably. If it is not, the designer may have to assume the more severe class.

FreightWaves reported on a pallet pooler's plastic pallets receiving fire approval, which shows the market trend: pooling companies and makers have sought listings because storage customers ask for them.

What a listing does not buy

• It does not transfer to another model, colour or revision.
• It does not cover every stack height and arrangement.
• It does not replace the building's fire engineer or the insurer.
• It does not apply to a pallet that has been modified.

Ask for the paper. A claim like "fire rated" in a catalogue is only as good as the listing document behind it, with a number and a date.

A beam load worked out

Take a pallet with a 2,000 lb racking load. A loaded pallet of 1,750 lb uses 87.5 percent of it and leaves 250 lb; one of 3,368 lb is 1,368 lb over. Rack engineers also apply their own safety margins, so treat the figure as a ceiling.

A stack worked out

Take a stackable rated 20,000 lb static. The bottom pallet carries the pallets above it, so with each loaded pallet weighing 3,838 lb it can hold 5 above, a stack of 6. With 7,880 lb per pallet it can hold 2 above. This is a ceiling on a flat floor for a still stack, not a promise for a stack that moves or waits.

Questions to put to the maker

• What is the name of the testing body on the document, and what is the date?
• Who in your own building reads the sprinkler design, and have they seen the document?
• Does the classification apply once the pallet is loaded and wrapped?
• Is the document a classification, a test report or a catalogue line?
• Is a different model offered with a listing, and what does it cost in weight or rating?
• How is the pallet marked so an inspector can match it to the document?
• Does the listing cover the pallet with its deck pattern, open or closed?
• Does the maker hold a listing for this exact model, or only for a family of models?

From the dock

• Ask your insurer which standard they use before asking a maker for a listing to that standard.
• A listing covers the pallet as tested: height, spacing and arrangement matter as much as the material.
• Plastic pallets burn differently from wood, and the design that protects one may not protect the other.
• Keep a dated record of each listing document; they are revised and withdrawn over time.
• Colour is not a marker of fire performance; read the moulded model name and match it to the paper.
• A pallet added to a stack at the last minute is the one nobody classified; set a rule for new stock.
• Inspections happen on a schedule you do not control; keep the documents where the inspector can find them.

Words on this page

Closed deck

A solid deck that keeps small items and torn bags from falling through and wipes clean on top.

Commodity class

A fire-protection category for stored goods and their pallets, used to design sprinkler systems.

UL

Underwriters Laboratories, a safety testing body that publishes fire test standards, including one for storage pallets.

Polypropylene

Another common pallet resin, lighter and stiffer than some others, with its own behaviour in the cold.

FM Approvals

A testing and certification body whose classifications insurers and sprinkler designers read.

Static load

The weight a pallet holds while standing still on a flat floor, spread evenly across the deck. It is the highest of the three ratings.

Recycled content

The share of a pallet moulded from reground plastic. Makers print it as a range, often by colour.

Beam span

The open gap between two rack beams. The longer the span, the lower the load the pallet can carry across it.