What should I do about Pallet Racking Damage?

Pallet racking is very durable and reliable, and if it is installed in conformity to the latest safety standards, with proper maintenance it should give you many years of good service. Once the installation has been completed your warehouse personnel must be made aware of best working practices to be observed in their work. This will include informing them on such matters as warehouse tidiness, appropriate and maximum loadings of the warehouse racking, and safe use of any plant and equipment. Of course, if you modify your pallet racking installation at any time, the changes you make could affect the safe loadings. In such case the warehouse staff must be kept up to date with any changes in working practices that this may necessitate.

An essential routine in any well run warehouse is the regular inspection of the pallet racking. Inspection should take place at least once each week by a trained member of staff, the timing and procedure to be followed being laid down in the working practices of the business, and be rigorously applied. Any damage found should be reported to the designated senior person, who should have been trained to deal with these matters, and to take the appropriate remedial action.

At least once each year your warehouse racking installation must be inspected by a qualified inspector. This is likely to be somebody from outside your business who has been trained in SEMA regulations.

In addition to these inspections, all warehouse staff should be told that if they see any damage to racking components at any time, they must report it to the designated person as soon as they possibly can.

Measures such as these combine to minimise the incidence of damage in your warehouse. However, accidents happen in the best of working environments, and these can cause damage to your pallet racking installation, no matter how professionally it was installed.

We all know that it is preferable to prevent, rather than cure a problem, and there are ways in which damage from impacts can be prevented or minimised. For instance, Column Guards can be fitted around upright supports to give them a degree of protection from damage by fork lift trucks and the like, and racking protection is available in the form of metal barriers which are designed to protect the ends of the racking frame from vehicles or plant that may be travelling along the aisles. Pallet Racking Systems are here to help you if you are interested in installing warehouse racking protection.

Once pallet racking damage has occurred, the prime consideration must always be the preservation of the safe working environment. This means that where a component suffers significant damage remedial action should be taken straight away. Particular attention should be paid to the main bracing pieces that connect the front uprights to the upright supports at the back of the pallet racking, as these components are fundamental to the overall strength of the installation. Damage to these must always be treated as urgent, and the goods stored in the affected area should be unloaded as soon as the damage is identified.

In any case, if damage is such that the shape of a component has been distorted, or a fixing bolt or similar part has broken, these parts it must be replaced. Similarly, broken welds must be replaced without delay.

In some cases it may not be easy to decide whether or not the damage is so significant as to require immediate replacement, and in these cases our experts at Pallet Racking Systems will be pleased to advise you, contact us today.