No matter how hard you may try, damage to racking is something which it is hard to defend against. While racking is not inherently flawed in any way (unless poorly set-up) it is, like any form of equipment, susceptible to human error and wear and tear over time.
Racking damage can occur in many ways; sometimes it happens during assembly. If a poorly trained or unqualified company installs or reassembles your racking, then they could make costly mistakes. They may overlook important factors such as how your racking will be used and what exactly will be stored. This may in turn then cause your racking to become overloaded and weaken over time, threatening your stock and the safety of your employees. Another way that racking can be damaged is through human error, such as when racking is impacted by vehicles like forklift trucks moving around the warehouse – even with the best training and the most proficient drivers, accidents like this can still happen and even a small chip or crack could cause equipment to fail.
In order for you to protect yourself, you need to work with highly competent suppliers and installers to deliver your racking. You also need to ensure that your employees know how best to access the racking and that they are careful to avoid collisions when in transit around your warehouse.
That said, no matter how hard you do prepare, mistakes can still be made, and they may even occur without your knowledge. For instance, if you overload your racking beyond its capacity then over time it may create pressure cracks or hairline cracks. These cracks aren’t immediately obvious to you or your staff, but they could be reducing your load bearing capacity by around 40% which may hamper your productivity. This is one of the key reasons why it is vitally important to have regular reviews of your racking.
Continuing to use broken racking can reduce your productivity, yes, but there are even graver dangers too. Should an employee be injured by racking collapsing on them or should they be otherwise injured in any shape or form then you could be liable, as their employer, under the Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act (2007).
Logical Storage has a team of experienced specialists who can inspect racking, make recommendations on how to prevent damage as well as performing remedial works such as racking repair to damaged equipment.
So don’t delay, book yourself in for a racking inspection at the beginning of the year and sleep soundly knowing that your warehouse is operating at maximum efficiency and in the safest way possible. Contact us on 0845 689 1300 to find out more or to speak to one of our team.
Racking damage is unfortunately part and parcel of running a warehouse and no matter how carefully you guard against it there is always the chance that something can happen under your nose which greatly reduces the load bearing capacity of your racking and as a result puts your employees in danger.
One of the biggest causes of racking damage is when a forklift truck driver accidentally knocks into racking. While you can guard against this with good training and safety lines, you can never completely remove the danger of human error leading to an accident. It’s important that you follow good practices and if a pallet is identified as being damaged you should quickly remove it from use and have it repaired before being put back into action. Continued use of damaged pallets can cause problems with your beams.
Damage to your racking, no matter how small, can have a huge impact on your systems and reduce the amount of weight that it can hold. This in turn can lead to a disastrous collapse which at the very least puts your stock at risk and at the very worst endangers your employees. If an accident were to happen in your workplace, would you be confident that you had done everything you could to prevent it? Under the Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act (2007) you can be found guilty of corporate manslaughter as a result of management failures and breaching your duty of care.
However, just because damage to racking is very likely doesn’t mean that there is nothing that can be done about it. By organising periodic reviews of your racking with a professional company you can quickly identify small signs of wear and tear before they develop into something much worse.
Logical Storage is highly skilled in spotting the often hard-to-find signs of racking degradation. We carry out regular reviews for a number of businesses helping them to keep their systems in good working order and to maintain their legal obligations under the Health & Safety Act. To find out more please call us on 0845 689 1300.
While your racking systems and storage might appear to be working well and you might not see any obvious issues with their exterior, there may be a number of underlying issues that could be affecting the way they work, thus endangering both your products and your staff.
Throughout the day your racking can pick up an infinite number of knocks and scrapes. This could be through poor design or layout, overloading the racking, day-to-day damage by forklift trucks, or adjusting them without proper training.
It’s said that this type of damage to racking can reduce its load bearing capacity by as much as 40%. So it’s important that any issues are dealt with quickly in order to maintain the efficiency of your operations.
What’s more, when racking is damaged it can become unstable which means that you are risking both valuable stock and also the health and safety of your staff.
This is why it’s important to have a professional team inspect your racking on a regular basis. We recommend that racking inspections are carried out at least once a year.
To learn more about Logical Storage’s rack inspections, please click here, or contact us on 0845 689 1300 to discuss your needs.
Under the Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act (2007) and the Provisions of Use of Work Equipment Regulations (1998) employers have a responsibility to make sure that any equipment such as racking is safe to use and any risks to employees are planned for.
Unfortunately, many do not realise that the probability of a racking collapse is quite high and that damage is not uncommon. They might not also realise the effect that a piece of damaged equipment may be having on the efficiency of their business, especially when damage to racking can reduce load bearing capacity by as much as 40%.
Here are some of the common causes of damage to racking:
- Adjusting or re-assembling racking without proper training
- Continued use of damaged pallets which cause damage to beams
- Poor design or layout
- Overloading
- Damage by forklift trucks
In order to address these issues you should ensure that forklift truck drivers are given thorough training, racking bears only the weight it is designed to hold, broken or damaged pallets are removed from use immediately and that all of your racking is installed and repaired by trained professionals.
Key to ensuring a long lifespan for your racking is to undergo regular reviews, preventative maintenance and repairs of your racking, thus ensuring that both your stock and your employees are protected. Remember that racking damage is not always visible to the untrained eye and so reviews and repairs should be undertaken by an experienced company.
Logical Storage Solutions have extensive experience in performing racking inspections and can help guide businesses in meeting their legal duties and Health & Safety obligations. To learn more about a Logical Storage rack inspection, click here or call us on 0845 689 1300 to discuss your needs.
Businesses up and down the country are struggling with a big problem: space. As the economy has come out of recession and has been slowly growing and heading back towards the level they were at before the economic crash, businesses are facing a dilemma. They are doing more trade as the economy improves, and so want to expand, but the recovery isn’t strong enough for businesses to feel they can take a risk on new premises. So what should they do?
To grow with the economy and not get left behind, they need more space. But to move to bigger premises at such a delicate time would be for many businesses a leap of faith too far. Fortunately, there are lots of ways businesses can capitalise on their existing space to make sure they use every inch of what they already have, allowing them to grow without having to move. Here are five key ways:
- Consider a mezzanine floor. If your warehouse, offices, retail store or any other commercial building has lots of space above the ground floor, then it is currently being wasted. A mezzanine floor could double the amount of space you have for selling products, storing products, distribution or could even be used for offices.
- Make sure you are using the most efficient type and size of racking and shelving for your business needs – discuss the options with professionals to make sure the storage you have is right for you.
- Repair any damaged shelves or racking. If you have racking which cannot be used because it is unsafe then it is a waste of resources. Get it repaired or replaced.
- Have regular racking inspections to prevent any future problems before it’s too late.
- Use office partitions and space planning to make the best use of your office space, so that way you can fit more people into the space and work in a more efficient and effective manner.
Here at Logical Storage, we know that no two businesses are the same, and may need to consider one, all, or a combination of some of these solutions to help create more space for their company to flourish. Give us a call on 0845 689 1300 to see how we can help you.
For many businesses, space is incredibly valuable. Many of us need more of it, yet we don’t want to take the step of moving to bigger premises in times of economic uncertainty. Therefore, the logical alternative is to utilise the space we already have in the best way possible. Logical Storage can help with this in a number of ways.
One major option would be for us to design and install a mezzanine floor in your warehouse or building, if you have the space for it. This option can double your floor space, allowing you to use the wasted space in your building for offices, storage, retail, production or other uses.
Alternatively, we can look at the type of racking you are using for storage, and assess whether there is a type of racking that is more suited to your needs that you might not know about. You may find that your racking could go higher, or the space between it could be narrower, thus allowing you more storage space. There is a wide range of different types of racking available, such as wide aisle racking, very narrow aisle racking, drive-in racking, cantilever racking and dynamic push back racking. As well as racking, we also have a wide range of shelving.
You might also be losing storage space because the racking that you do have is damaged and not in a fit state to be used. We can make sure that your racking is functioning at optimum efficiency, carry out repairs to damaged racking to ensure it is fit for purpose, and can conduct Preventative Maintenance to make sure that you can continue to use all of the storage space you have available to you.
Out of the warehouse, you may feel that you need more office space, perhaps on your new mezzanine floor. We have experienced space planners that can help you to get the very best out of your office design, with a wide range of partitions.
So, there are lots of different methods that we can employ to make sure you’re using the space you currently have to maximum efficiency. To discuss these options further, please give us a call on 0845 689 1300.
Pallet rack inspections are so vital to warehouse storage and systems as they can highlight and identify the need for rack repair or replacement. The warehouse systems and processes from pick and pack through to dispatch and distribution will not matter in their efficiency if a pallet rack falls or collapses. The stock will more than likely be damaged and will need replacing and then there is the dispatch and distribution that will need to be re-assessed and re-organised. All of which could have been avoided if the racks and rack components had been inspected and any rack damaged dealt with.
Pallet racks obviously have a lot of use and carry substantial weight, especially load bearing columns. Damage can also occur with forklift trucks knocking into the columns aswell. Rack repair can sometimes be done without having to shut down the whole of the factory aisle or unloading pallets on each level, although it does depend on what repair is needed – this would be advised through a rack inspection. Any time taken to carry out the repairs would still be better than having a collapsed rack, resulting in damaged stock and potential injury to employees nearby.
It doesn’t always have to be the rack as a whole to cause damage, it can be one of the rack components that has not been fitted correctly, or has become loose that can make the entire rack unstable. Often an inspection will highlight these components before any damage is done to the pallet rack.
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