How is glass transported?

At first glance, "How is glass transported?" is a head-scratcher. To the uninitiated, it could sound like a fiendish round of Taskmaster or a riddle along the lines of "How does the snowplough driver get to work?"

Even so, tonnes of glass get transported every day, up and down the country and all across the world.

Of course, some glass is hard to break. Like, really hard to break. The laminated glass used in your windscreen isn't going to shatter in transit unless a passing mob starts smashing it with hammers. Yes, it still needs careful handling (you don't want it to arrive with any blemishes), but it doesn't present the same level of logistical complexity as your run-of-the-mill, off-the-shelf, easy-to-shatter annealed glass.

So how is it done? We've got one word for you: carefully. But taking care when transporting glass isn't just a case of paying attention to avoid getting a cut or dropping a pane in the warehouse. It involves packaging and loading techniques that keep the glass intact over long distances.

The art of packaging

As anyone who's had a large parcel shoved through their letterbox will know, poor packaging is up there with YouTube ads and train delays in the annoyance stakes. If you want to keep the customer satisfied, you need to take steps to ensure that the materials are packaged correctly.

This is a three-step process. First, any sharp edges need to be softened with masking tape. The person responsible should wear safety gloves and avoid touching the edges even when they're taped up. It can also be advisable to apply tape in X shapes across the glass. If the worst happens and the glass shatters, this will prevent you from having a van floor covered in smithereens.

Next, you should place corner and edge protection blocks on the glass. These can be manufactured from cardboard, foam or plastic. If you've not seen them before, imagine the protectors you get when a TV comes in its box.

An alternative would be to wrap the glass in foam sheeting and tape it into place. Your number one priority is to stop it from sliding around. Once sheeted, you want to add another layer of protection in the form of corrugated cardboard. Smaller panes can be sandwiched in cardboard without the foam layer.

Once this has been done, it's time to load your materials.

Time to load

Your glass is now packed up and ready to be loaded into the van. Simply hoicking it over your shoulder is likely to lead to a Chaplinesque disaster and an awkward meeting with your line manager.

Your best bet is to use a dolly. Specialised versions exist that are built specifically for the transportation of glass.

If you don't have a dolly, you can lift and load purely manually – but, as with any manual job, this involves paying close attention to workplace regulations and health and safety procedures.

Whichever method you use, there are two important things to remember. First, you need to be wearing the appropriate safety gear. And second, you should always lift from the bottom and keep the glass upright when moving it onto the dolly or into the van.

Keeping safe in transit

There are two main ways to keep glass secure in transit. The first is to use a "stillage". The second is to brace the glass into place.

A stillage is a cross between a pallet and a cage. Typically made of steel, it has a base and sides to contain your goods. This has two benefits: it adds an extra layer of protection to the materials and it reduces the number of objects that need to be loaded and unloaded.