Jobsite Material Stacking Limits (OSHA 1926.250)
Three stacking rules sharing one idea and one trap. The idea: past a threshold a stack must lean AWAY, because a vertical face of loose units topples toward whoever is standing at it -- the person unstacking, at the moment they have removed what held the face. The trap: the threshold and the ceiling are DIFFERENT numbers, so a stack can be legal in height and illegal in shape. A 5 ft brick stack is nowhere near the 7 ft limit and already owes 2 in of taper. Brick: 7 ft max, 2 in per foot above 4. Block: half a block per tier above 6 ft -- an 8 ft stack of 8 in block owes 24 in. Lumber: 20 ft, but 16 if handled MANUALLY, so the same pile is legal or not depending on how it comes DOWN, not how it went up.
Formula and source
brick: ceiling 7 ft, taper = (height - 4 ft) x 2 in per foot above the 4 ft level; masonry block: tiers above 6 ft = ceil((height - 6 ft) x 12 / block height), taper = tiers x half the block length; lumber: ceiling 20 ft, or 16 ft where handled manually.
OSHA 29 CFR 1926.250, a US federal regulation in the public domain, quoted directly.
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