Month: January 2022

Our Skip Safety Tips

31/01/2022 by Bookabin

Although a skip bin hire may seem harmless, things can go seriously wrong if you don’t follow certain safety precautions. To help you, your family and neighbours keep safe, follow our top skip safety tips.

Create a No-Smoking Area Around Your Skip Bin

Make it a rule that no one is allowed to smoke within a certain distance of the skip bin. Many materials placed in skip bins are extremely flammable. Dry wood, paper rubbish, and wood-plastic composites are just a few examples of materials that could catch fire if sparks or cigarette butts were to ignite them.

Once ignited, your skip could be a raging fire pit, creating an emergency for everyone and everything close to the bin including your house! It may also be worth keeping a fire extinguisher handy just in case you catch a small fire close to the bin. But ultimately prevention is the best method, so keep the fire away by enforcing a no-smoking, no-lighting rule around the skip bin on your site.

Keep the Area Around Your Skip Clear

When you are loading your skip, be sure to keep pieces of rubbish or tools picked up in the general area of the skip. It is very easy to not see these items on the ground while loading your skip, so not only could they cause a trip hazard, but they can also be a potential danger to step on something sharp.  Make it a regular practice to visually scan the area around the skip bin for hazards and clean up any wayward material for disposal or correct storage.

Stick to the Right Waste Material

Only put the accepted waste material for your type of skip bin inside the bin. Hazardous materials inside a bin that is not designed to hold it can lead to damage to the skip bin, fires, and sometimes even damage to equipment and people handling the waste further down the line at the processing plants. Read up on what types of materials are allowed in your skip bin before you go ahead with your skip bin hire to avoid any unnecessary accidents.

Fill to the Top of the Bin Only

Although it may seem tempting to overfill to save cost, we put the ‘do not fill above rim’ warning there for a reason! Besides being illegal, an overflowing bin is also a safety hazard. Whilst on your property, if you fill your bin too high, content can become unbalanced and fall over the edges, possibly dropping on those around the area.

If an overfilled bin can cause a safety hazard while still, imagine what it can do in transit on the road! Part of the load could fall off hitting pedestrians and causing serious injuries, or it could hit a vehicle and cause an accident. Typically, the skip bin delivery driver will refuse to transport an overloaded bin because of these reasons, and you will have to fish out the excess. Save everyone’s time by only filling the bin to the appropriate level.

Book Your Skip Bin with Bookabin

Hiringskip bins in Darwin and throughout Australia is made easy with Bookabin, your one-stop shop for skip bin hire. We organise, deliver, and collect your skip bins with an easy booking system on our website. Rent a skip with BookaBin today and dispose of waste easily and safely. 

Why You Shouldn’t Overload a Skip Bin

24/01/2022 by Bookabin

Whether you are renting a skip bin for moving house, home renovations, or a commercial project, you might be tempted to overfill it. It may seem like a good idea, saving you money and the hassle of an extra skip bin hire with little to no risk. However, overloading a skip bin is dangerous, illegal, and costly. We discuss in detail why you should stick to the fill limits of your skip bin hire.

Dangerous Overflow

One of the biggest risks when overfilling your skip bin is that the contents can overflow and cause damage to people or property. There could be sharp, broken items sticking out the top and this could easily hurt passers-by, or those handling the skip bin. Items can even fall out and damage your neighbours’ property, making you potentially liable for costly repairs.

It is especially hazardous when an overfilled skip bin is in transit on the truck, as debris can fly out and land on the road or hit another vehicle, causing an accident. Keep you, your family, the public, and the skip bin operators safe by not overfilling your rented skip bin.

You Don’t Save Money

It may seem like you are saving money by overfilling your skip bin, but in fact, it will mean more costs in the long run. If your skip bin is overloaded, then the truck driver who is meant to pick it up could refuse to take it.

If a skip bin is over the maximum weight and full capacity, then the additional burden could cause damage to the truck and put the driver at risk. In this situation, you will have to pay extra costs to have the additional waste removed safely. Simply get the right skip bin capacity for your job upfront and save any additional hassle.

How High Should You Fill a Skip?

On most skip bins there is a red ‘fill line’ which shows the limit of where your waste can be filled to, and you should stick to this as that is the tested safe capacity of the skip bin. It is usually obvious if you have overfilled it, so don’t make the mistake of thinking that you will get away with it – just remove any excess and keep to the limit.

If you know you are going to be removing a lot of waste material, then it is a good idea to hire a larger size skip bin. You can easily review skip bin sizes on the Bookabin website and find a size that will be able to contain the waste without any hazardous overfilling. If you end up with a lot more waste than you originally anticipated, then hiring a second bin is easy through Bookabin skip bin hire.

Rent a Skip Bin with Bookabin

Save yourself time and money by getting the right skip bin size upfront with our size guide at Bookabin. We supply rental skip bins to meet the needs of nearly any job, all at an affordable rate. If you are not sure what skip bin you need to rent, then get in contact with our friendly team who will be happy to guide you through the process.