Is Your Warehouse Pallet Racking & Shelving “Safe?”

When was the last time you checked your pallet racking? Hopefully as a warehouse manager or employee, you are intimately familiar with each rack, shelf and new ding. If you are not keeping a constant eye out for new damages that may appear, or you cannot even remember the last time you did a proper safety check, then you may be flirting with disaster.

Here are some tips to ensure your racking is safe, secure and sturdy:

Physical Damage: The racking and shelving are only as good as the integrity of the beams, braces, shelving and pallet racks. This means you need to inspect any damage done by forklifts, trucks or trailers hitting the racking.  We have all been witness to at least one instance where an errant forklift, a distracted driver of a truck or other mechanized vehicle has hit a rack or shelving unit way too hard.

 

DON’T BRUSH THESE MOMENTS OFF! It is imperative you check to ensure that all struts and supporting features are still capable of load bearing weight, fitted together snugly and in proper placement.  If not, this could cause a shelving unit to crash down, endangering someone’s life.

 

Also do a continual walk-around check for rust issues; especially if your warehouse is in a particularly humid or rainy climate, or you deal with storing chemicals and other solvents which could periodically leak onto the racking and cause loss of integrity to the entire unit.

 

Training: Do your employees know and understand how to assemble pallet racking or metal shelving units? If not, get them trained. Having everyone who works with these large, load-bearing racks and metal shelving units understand how they are set up, what proper maximum loads are, and what to look out for can only increase your warehouse safety.

 

Watch For Falling Objects:  Is your warehouse in the habit of always stabilizing the loads on the warehouse pallet racks with shrink wrap, sides, enhanced decking, etc.–?  If not, the potential danger of falling objects increases, especially if a forklift hits shelving on the other side and could send stored pallet rack objects on the other side raining down on the unsuspecting.

 

Is A Diet Needed?  This may be a “no-brainer” but seriously. You and every employee should be able to walk around the warehouse and immediately know the weight capacity of the racking system on each and every self. Always be asking and looking at what the weight of stored goods on those pallet racks is versus capacity of racking system. Knowledge is power—go test your employees and see firsthand whether they know, or need a refresher course.

 

Misalignment of Racking: Having a solid and dependable shelving unit starts from the ground up. If you are unsure that your warehouse was installed by professionals, or the ground has shifted, or whatever; immediately contact the installer or manufacturer.

 

Also it is critical that you don’t mix and match differing brands or styles of pallet rack unless you know without a shadow of a doubt that those different components will work safely together. Contact the manufacturers about this issue, and the style of racking or shelving you are using. Make sure the weight bearing loads are equal for each type if put side-by-side. Don’t let saving a dollar here, cost you in lawsuits down the road.

 

Layout:  Sometimes as a warehouse grows, product changes, etc., we forget the simple things. Arrange your industrial shelving and pallet racks in a safe manner to operate around.  Set it up so you are left with as much space as possible for a forklift to safely maneuver, so that employee movement is allowed for in a safe manner, watch above to ensure you are not interfering with sprinkler/fire retardant systems, water lines, gas lines, lighting conduits, etc.

 

 

Don’t Be Light On Your Feet:  Again, starting from the ground up–Be sure to check the footings on your racking system. Are they solidly on the ground?  Do they need anchoring? Also check the legs around the footings to ensure there are no bends or folding of the legs in any way, manner, shape or form. If your footings can easily be moved when the racking is loaded, then the danger flag should be dancing about in your head like crazy.

 

Go Back To School:  Do you remember the last time you taught safe forklift use? By giving employees uniform and continual education and training about your particular warehouse environment and its nuances, you are greatly increasing safety. Constantly update their training on use of forklifts, conveyors, pallet rack platforms, etc.

 

“If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It”:  If you operate under that system, you could be heading for trouble. Take for instance your forklift–?  Is it the one that is best suited for your warehouse environment, or is it one that was willed down from several warehouses ago? Get the right tool for the job, and that only amplifies the measure of safety you offer to those in your warehouse.

 

Let There Be Light:  Having adequate lighting improves visibility, and better visibility has been proven to increase safety.  Yes, those old lights from the 1950’s are probably not going to cut it.  By taking steps to provide better lighting, and space for the light to shine through in between those pallet rack aisles, will increase visibility. So what would you rather pay for–?  A small lighting improvement, or a lawsuit of negligence?