As Steel Prices Rise, Beware The Lure To Thinner Steel

By now, you probably are aware that there is a global steel crisis causing steel prices to spike and material to be scarce. In order to offset some of the cost increase, buyers of steel containers should be aware that although there might not be much of a visual difference, metal thickness reduction does affect performance greatly. You can see the difference just by looking at a US quarter, a dime and a small paper clip. Measuring with a micrometer, a US Quarter ($.25) is the thickness of a 16 gauge (1.5mm) sheet of steel. A US Dime ($.10) is the thickness of an 18 gauge (1.2mm) sheet and a small paper clip is 20 gauge (0.9mm). Currently, some drum manufacturers are producing UN certified drums from steel as thin as 22 gauge (0.8mm), that’s thinner than a paper clip! Yes, these thin drums are capable of passing performance tests in a laboratory, but in the field, they are prone to material handling failures, transportation damage and the money saved from buying ‘thin’ is later spent on incident recovery and clean up. At Skolnik we’re known for using thicker steel than industry standards while other manufacturers are going thinner. Is it worth the added risk, to save a little money, by packaging your hazardous material shipments in a drum made of steel that is less than the thickness of a paper clip?