Read below for more detailed information:
The Dangers of a Racking Collapse:
The above video shows you what can happen if racking is hit by a forklift, as you can see, this reach truck driver only just clips the racking with his truck leading to a major racking collapse, leaving the truck driver trapped. As a forklift driver, you should respect the racking you are using, if not there is a risk not only to your own life but to others lives too.
One thing to always remember is that racking does not always collapse straight away after being hit by a forklift, it can collapse hours, days or weeks after the damaged had been caused, the damage that has already occurred weakens the racking leading to it eventually giving way under the weight of the load on it.
The above clearly shows the need to take racking damage very seriously and the high importance of inspecting your racking on a weekly basis in-house and annually by a competent person or on a more regular basis depending on the amount of racking you have in your warehouse.
BOOK HERE NOW to have your pallet racking inspected to help prevent potential disasters like in the above video!
Storage Equipment Manufacturers Association (SEMA) Guide Lines:
The information contained in our reports conforms to the Storage Equipment Manufacturers Association Guide to The Conduct of Pallet Racking and Shelving Surveys.
The SEMA Guide classifies damage into the following three categories: -
RED RISK
These are items, which are severely damaged well beyond the limitations of the SEMA Code. In such circumstances, the racking should be immediately Off-Loaded and isolated from future use until repair work is carried out.
AMBER RISK
These items are damaged beyond the limitations of the SEMA Code, but not sufficiently serious to warrant immediate Off-Load of the rack. The rack should be Off-Loaded as soon as possible and should not be re-used until the repair work is carried out. If the repair is not carried out within 4 weeks, the Amber Risk to turns to a Red Risk.
GREEN RISK
These are items, which are damaged but are within the limitations of the SEMA Code. These items would be recorded as being still suitable for use but be identified for future reference and monitoring.
A “Serious Damage Report” will have been issued on the day of the inspection for all damage designated RED RISK.
Storage Equipment Manufacturers Association (SEMA) Guide Lines:
The information contained in our reports conforms to the Storage Equipment Manufacturers Association Guide to The Conduct of Pallet Racking and Shelving Surveys.
The SEMA Guide classifies damage into the following three categories: -
RED RISK
These are items, which are severely damaged well beyond the limitations of the SEMA Code. In such circumstances, the racking should be immediately Off-Loaded and isolated from future use until repair work is carried out.
AMBER RISK
These items are damaged beyond the limitations of the SEMA Code, but not sufficiently serious to warrant immediate Off-Load of the rack. The rack should be Off-Loaded as soon as possible and should not be re-used until the repair work is carried out. If the repair is not carried out within 4 weeks, the Amber Risk to turns to a Red Risk.
GREEN RISK
These are items, which are damaged but are within the limitations of the SEMA Code. These items would be recorded as being still suitable for use but be identified for future reference and monitoring.
A “Serious Damage Report” will have been issued on the day of the inspection for all damage designated RED RISK.
When we inspect a customers pallet racking, we use the traffic light sticker system, which runs alongside the trade used traffic light grading of any damage found during an inspection, this gives a visual for the forklift truck drivers who are the ones using the system day in day out and advises them on what action needs to be taken when they see one of the four stickers (shown above) stuck to a particular racking component. This will enable the forklift truck driver to use the racking safely until the necessary repairs have been carried out.
On the day of the inspection, if there are any Category Red - Critical Damages found during the inspection, a full list of the damage will be handed to the customer to action the immediate unloading of the locations affected, cordon off the bays and not reuse them until they have been repaired. There will be a Red Risk - Critical sticker as a visual reminder on the damaged racking component to remind any forklift truck driver not to load the damaged rack.
Assessment of damage to uprights and bracing members:
- A steel straight edge 1.0 meter long is placed in contact with a flat surface on the concave side of the damaged member such that the damaged area lies central as near as possible to the length of the straight edge.
- For an upright bent in the plane of the frame bracing, the maximum gap between the upright and straight edge should not exceed 3mm.
- For an upright bent in the direction of the rack beam spans, the maximum gap between the upright and straight edge should not exceed 5mm.
- For an upright, which has been damaged such that there is a simultaneous bend in both directions, the left to right and front to back deformation shall be measured separately and the appropriate limits observed.
- For bracing members bent in either plane, the gap between the straight edge and bracing member should not exceed 10mm.
- These rules apply only to damage, which produces an overall bend in a member; they do not apply to highly localised damage such as dents, buckles, tears and splits. Localised bends over a length of less than 1.0m may be judged pro-rata to the above limits. Members subjected to tears and splits should be replaced.
Assessment of damage to beams:
Assessment of damage to beams:
- Beams will naturally deflect under normal loading conditions to a maximum permissible of span/200. This deflection should disappear when beams are unloaded and should not be confused with permanent deformation caused by overloading or impact damage.
- Residual vertical deformation should not exceed 20% of normal deflection under load. Residual lateral deformation should not exceed 40% of the normal vertical deflection under load.
- Beams, which show any clearly visible deformation to the beam end connectors, should be unloaded and replaced.
- Beams, which show any signs of cracking to the weld between the beam section and end connector, should be unloaded and replaced.
