Load Securing with Anti-Slip Mats Based on Cardboard

Safety first

Article in PACKREPORT 09/2009

Safety first
Common anti-slip mats are often made from rubber materials that have to be disposed of at relatively high cost. They are therefore often re-used multiple times. At the same time, their re-usability is often impaired rapidly by dirt or abrasion. This is a dilemma that does not even arise with anti-slip mats based on cardboard.

Nearly a quarter of all accidents in HGV traffic are caused by inadequate load securing. This makes it especially important that only certified products are used in load securing. Multi-Cargo has developed Safety Grip anti-slip mats in order to provide top cost-efficient load safety. The cardboard-based mat with anti-slip coating on both sides can be disposed of as waste paper after use and is thus both economical and environmentally friendly in its disposal.

It is easily tailored to the respective requirements due to the standards offered. The flexible material allows for quick solutions for special applications. Here, the different materials in the Safety-Grip series of products play a key role. These products are not only suitable for load securing but especially suitable for pallet securing. In this, the application of environmentally friendly Safety Grip in strengths of 0.2 to 0.8 mm as intermediate or base layer can prevent slipping “on the pallet” when lorries brake.

In combination with cardboard box systems and strapping, palletising becomes easy. But even special applications such as slip sheets are easily implemented using the new anti-slip material. This system uses not pallets but slip sheets, for example in container shipping, export or factory traffic.

Safety Grip is made of multi-layered cardboard with pull tabs and features extremely high tensile strength. It is tear resistant and damp-proof. The material is treated with anti-slip coating on one side. By avoiding expensive IPPC one-way pallets, top savings (about 2-3 euros per pallet) and eco-friendliness are achieved.

No additional certificates are needed for export, as slip sheets are treated as non-wood pallets. Improved use of space increases hold capacity by up to 20%.

A well-known fact is that drums or containers are shipped in great quantities by the chemical industry. Hazardous goods make up a significant part thereof. Anti-slip mats lower the coefficient of friction under the pallets during transport so that the pallets no longer shift so easily while the drums on the pallet will still start to slide easily.
Stretch film or strapping bands as a rule are not enough to keep the drums on the pallets. To solve the problem, the coefficient of friction on the pallet has to be increased.
Multi-Cargo realised quickly during tensile tests that “normal editions” of Safety Grip are not suitable here. Many drums, whether plastic or steel, are not flat at the bottom but are arched so that the bottom of the barrel has only limited contact with the pallet. The curve makes for a small contact area. In order to increase the coefficient of friction, Multi-Cargo developed Safety Grip Wave. The material is significantly softer than the current standard design. The barrels with a weight of 100 to 220 kg press into the Safety Grip Wave support and form a deformation trough that prevents the barrel from starting to slide so easily. In combination with Safety Grip anti-slip coating, values around µ 0.6 can be achieved. In this way, barrels can be transported safely and in an environmentally friendly way in future.