Occupational Safety and Health Administration Logs

What do the OSHA regs say about storing an empty pallet? Someone told me they must be flat?

I cannot find the info on the OSHA website. Someone told me if an empty pallet is in any position other than lying flat on the floor, it is a $1000 fine. That sounds plausible but I cannot find any info anywhere on the internet about it. If you have an answer, please tell me WHERE I can find it, so I can have documented PROOF.

Public Comments

1. Pallets should be flat but you have to relize OSHA has had its teeth pulled in the last 20 years of no real inforcement except a small fine for someone getting killed instead of a 50 million dollar fine
2. there is no such reg in the CFR 1910, regarding empty pallets, people like to make up OSHA regs either based on half truths or ignorance
3. This is the closest OSHA reg I could find: 1926.250(b)(8)(iii) Lumber shall be so stacked as to be stable and self-supporting. If the pallet is stacked on its side it is therefore 'unstable'. The $1,000 is pure conjecture, it depends on the classification of the citation. Good question I was unaware of this requirement.
4. They can use the general duty clause or a section like this: 1910.176(b) Secure storage. Storage of material shall not create a hazard. Bags, containers, bundles, etc., stored in tiers shall be stacked, blocked, interlocked and limited in height so that they are stable and secure against sliding or collapse. In this case, the empty pallets are now the "material". Upright the "slide". They do make pallet racks (or you can make your own where they can be stacked upright. They look sort of like a bike rack.