Pallet racking seldom fails without prior indicators, including a bent upright, safety clip being absent, or an overloaded beam. These indicators are usually present long before a failure occurs, however, in a busy warehouse, it is easy to miss them, especially since the racking system may blend into the environment. For UK companies, it is a legal requirement to maintain proper condition of racking systems. Failure to meet this requirement results in legal, financial, and safety ramifications.
Within the Health and Safety at Work Act, and more specifically the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations, it states that employers must ensure any equipment used in the workspace is adequately maintained. This includes the racking systems, and the Storage Equipment Manufacturers’ Association (SEMA) sets the standard for the industry’s best practice for this. This involves some sort of regular in-house safety inspection done by a trained inspector along with some sort of annual inspection done by a SEMA Approved Rack Inspector (SARI).
This means that the majority of warehouses and distribution centres in the country should be operating on two processes simultaneously. One of them is a rolling programme of weekly visual inspections done by an on site employee. This employee should be looking for things such as damaged upright beams, missing safety clips, racking that has been struck by a forklift, or pallets that are overhanging beams. The good thing about these inspections is that they do not require any kind of special or advanced equipment; they merely require a checklist and a way to document the findings.
The second inspection is the formal annual inspection. During this inspection, a qualified inspector grades the rack structures according to SEMA’s colour-coded risk rating system. Green means acceptable, amber means there is damage that should be monitored and repaired within a specific time period, and red means there is damage that needs immediate attention, including closing the bay for use. After the inspection, there should be a written report describing all the damages and the time frame in which remedial work should be done. Keeping these documents is not just an administrative formality, it is evidence for the employer to show due diligence in the event an incident occurs.
Another aspect that is often overlooked is load notices. Every bay of racking should have a load notice that clearly states the maximum load per bay, per level, and per pallet, and corresponds with the racking configuration. If the layout changes or if the racking is rearranged to accommodate different products, those load notices must be changed to reflect the new configuration. An out-of-date load notice is worse than no load notice because it gives workers a false sense of security regarding an outdated number.
The culture in the workplace around reporting damage is just as important as the physical inspections being done. Rack damage can be reported quickly and easily by forklift drivers, but with no clear and easy way to report damage and no punishment for neglecting the reporting process, small bumps and minor incidents go unreported and can turn into serious safety issues. An example of a process to support workplace damage reporting and improve safety would be a tagging system. Damaged uprights can be marked with temporary markers of a specific colour for review. This gives the floor staff an easy way to see what needs to be reviewed without any paperwork being done on the spot.
When businesses order new racks or try to make changes to current racks, it is best to include the costs associated with reviewing and maintaining the system from the beginning. Racks are one of the few pieces of equipment in the workplace that can support heavy loads placed directly above employees, machines, and stock systems for a long period of time without any alteration. This is why regular inspections are very important. An inspection of the racking system should be done to ensure it is safe for use and compliant with current regulations.
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