Reinforcement mesh: Safe storage and accident prevention

Reinforcing or reinforcement mesh is a staple of the construction industry, commonly used to improve the strength of concrete slabs, walls, and floors. Builders also rely on the versatile rebar lattice to prevent cracks in finished concrete material.

Chances are, reinforcement mesh is a key stock item at your builders merchant. But did you know the pressing safety risks of improper display, loading, and unloading?

While the sheets may look relatively light in comparison to other construction materials, they often weigh 20-30 kilograms each and present a number of storage concerns:

• Stacking sheets on the ground is a popular solution, but the oversized sheets can rob you of prime retail space. The rebar's jagged edges also introduce trip and laceration hazards for staff and customers.
• Propping or leaning reinforcement mesh against fences and walls can result in sheets falling and causing injury.

Safe ways to store reinforcement mesh

Merchants can employ a range of recognised methods to store reinforcement mesh safely. However, it's vital to understand your own environment and decide which system works best for you. Your Opus consultant can help, offering guidance based on your branch's unique requirements.

Once you've identified your ideal storage approach, it's critical to implement control measures, write them down, and train people against them.

A well-known builders merchant was recently fined £400,000 for not following their procedure, which led to staff suffering life-changing injuries when a tonne of iron mesh sheets became entangled and fell from a racking unit.

Flat storage

Space permitting, storing mesh flat remains the safest method of storing the material in a yard as it eliminates the potential of mesh falling or toppling onto staff and visitors. This approach also restricts excessive manual handling of multiple sheets at once.

It's recommended that lifting mesh sheets stored on the floor is always performed as a two-person lift.

Purpose-designed racking

Mesh can also be stored safely in purpose-built racking with arms designed to slope backwards to a set of main uprights. This configuration prevents packs of mesh from slipping off the racking arms when loaded.

Forklift truck loading and unloading

Using a forklift truck to load reinforcement mesh brings its own safety considerations. Your team should be trained on the specific hazards of the task. Key awareness points include:

• Operators must know the racking's safe working load (SWL).
• Loads must be placed slowly and accurately to avoid damaging the racking.
• The bundles must be secured with straps to ensure that individual sheets don't fall off.

When using a forklift truck to unload reinforcement mesh from racking, a safe method involves selecting the required number of sheets and moving the forks into the packs. To do this, the driver should:

• Position the forks alongside the racking arms to create a bridge between the two.
• Ensure that, while the mesh is still in contact with forks, the forks create a bridge with the racking arms to prevent the mesh from falling.
• Bring the truck to a safe stop and exit it, allowing two staff members to slide the mesh sheets onto the forks.
• Finally, the driver checks that the required number is on the forks, tilts the forks back, re-enters the truck, and moves to the loading/unloading area.

General safety tips for handling reinforcement mesh

• Handling mesh sheets onto a lorry bed should always be a two-person operation.
• When placing packs of mesh sheets onto a vehicle bed using a forklift truck, the pack must be securely bound.
• All pedestrians must be at least two metres clear of the pack and forklift truck as the load is delivered to the vehicle bed.