Anyone who’s ever worked with drums knows they can be a pain. A 205 litre drum comes in at around 250kg, has no designated lift points, cannot be relied on for shifting its center of gravity, and its contents perpetually shifting. Drums can also easily roll, a situation that is both frustrating and dangerous. Drum handling equipment was invented for all of those reasons. On many sites, manhandling drums becomes a brute force exercise that workers fall into a routine of. But eventually someone always pays for it, usually with their back, foot, or hand.
This equipment is divided by the intended purpose: moving, lifting, or pouring.
Moving: dollies and trolleys
This is the simplest type of equipment. A drum dolly is a wheeled ring that a drum sits in and allows otherwise impossible pushing to be done. Drum trolleys and trucks do the same thing, integrating a lift that places the drum in the ring. If drum movement happens in a workshop, a dolly or trolley is generally everything that’s needed. A drum dolly or trolley is an inexpensive equipment solution, removing most of the worse elements of manual handling and not requires any significant level of training to implement.
What dollies can’t do is lift. A drum on a dolly still has to get on and off pallets, racking and vehicles somehow. That’s where the rest of the range comes in.
Lifting and turning: drum lifters and rotators
Drum lifters take hold of the drum by the rim, the body, or both, and allow a drum to be picked up and moved by a hoist, crane, or forklift. Lifters with rotators can also provide controlled turning, which is very useful for the decanting and pouring of drum contents. Without a rotator, pouring is done by hand, and a part full drum being tipped is a load that moves on its own schedule, not yours.
The lifting capacity (of a drum lifter) is always worth checking, along with the type of drum (e.g. steel vs. plastic, the latter of which can deform) and whether controlled rotation is offered, as opposed to free rotation. For the first time ever having to pour an unpleasant substance, free rotation will certainly be appreciated, even if it is at higher cost.
Forklift drum attachments
Drum grabs and drum clamps are attachments that allow a standard forklift to pick, carry, and stack drums, without requiring any dangerous balancing. A rotator can integrate the pouring function as well, which is a great addition, as it can also lift and turn the drum.
These belong to the wider attachment family. The attachment alters the truck’s capacity, and the combination requires rating, not the attachment alone, as covered in [→ our fork lift attachments guide]. This also includes the securing and inspection points for attachments.
What do the regulations refer to?
The honest answer is there is nothing in particular about a drum handling kit. Like all other kits, it falls under the general regulations framework. Lifting equipment will fall under LOLER: thorough examination, marked capacities, pre-use checks. All kits will fall under PUWER: suitable, maintained, with suitably trained users. This kit will also fall under the manual handling regulations. If an employer chooses to have employees manually handle drums when a dolly that would eliminate manual handling would cost about £100, this is a choice an inspector will question. The main lifting and handling guide has more on inspections.
The other half: Storing them
This page deals with the safe transportation of drums. Safe storage of drums (spill retention, containment, the 25% rule for sump capacity) is a separate topic that has separate regulations because the risk, when drums are at rest, becomes what is inside the drum. This is covered in [→ our fire safety and hazardous storage guide]. If your drum has hazardous contents, the drum is easy to transport and hazardous when stored, safe transporting and safe storing are often in tension; the dispensing point is usually where they meet.