Blog #5

On a counterbalance course, we trained a team dealing with tight racking installed close to perimeter walls — a setup that left no room for broadside Euro pallet placement without undercutting.

To get the pallets safely into position, a 300mm undercut was needed. But here’s the critical part:

That shifted the load centre from 400mm to 700mm, reducing the truck’s lifting capacity from 2,000kg to just 1,429kg. That’s a 571kg drop — purely due to how the pallet sits on the forks.

Undercutting isn’t unsafe by default. What’s unsafe is doing it without understanding when and how to apply it.

Key takeaways:

Undercut only during stacking or de-stacking — never in transit
Pallets must be fully supported while travelling
Forks must carry at least two-thirds of the pallet length

At Axisafety Training Ltd, we don’t just train for the test. We train operators to handle real-world site limitations safely. On this site, undercutting was a safe solution to prevent load and wall damage — but only after operators understood the risks and limits.

Training matters. So does context. Let’s make safety practical.