NAPD welcomes new standard

The National Association of Pallet Distributors (NAPD) has welcomed the recently published new pallet testing standard EN ISO 8611-1: 2004 Pallets for materials handling – Flat pallets – Part 1: test methods as an effective measurement of quality.

The standard is a revision of the 1989 version and has taken 15 years for international committees to develop and agree upon. However, the new standard now takes into account the fact that its predecessor was too rigorous and failed too many good pallet designs.

NAPD secretary Paul Tait said "We already know that well maintained second-hand pallets will have no difficulty in meeting these new European requirements since a study in the US showed that pallets made entirely from recycled wood free from damage or decay were on average 11% stronger than pallets made from fresh undried timber. There must be few man-made materials which actually get stronger with age."