The Health and Safety Executive offer important guidance when it comes to keeping your employees safe. A failure to follow guidelines has historically seen business owners face large fines and legal damages when their actions, or inactions, have led to employees being injured.
Health and Safety guidelines should cover every aspect of your operations and racking is no exception. The most relevant advice for businesses utilizing racking is often the HSG76 Warehousing and storage: a guide to health and safety. This offers key information for managers and supervisors around health and safety in warehouses and storage facilities to help reduce injuries and improve occupational ill health targets set by the government.
One of the key points raised in the guidelines is the importance of having regular racking inspections carried out by trained experts. Racking needs to be properly maintained once it is installed and used properly. This means that it should never be overloaded or climbed upon (as is stressed in HSG76) and it is important to also guard it from damage by vehicles such as fork-lift trucks that use your warehouse.
Even the smallest amount of damage can have a big impact on your racking safety. Small fractures of hairline cracks can significantly impact the integrity of your racking and could lead to one or more of your employees being struck by falling objects or trapped under a collapsed structure.
With proper maintenance, racking is one of the most formidable types of storage that you can have and can make a huge impact on the productivity of your business. However, if handled badly and not regularly reviewed it can also slow down your operations and the day to day running of your business.
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.
Every warehouse is different and while there is no one way to do things, there are some common issues that we encounter that if tackled correctly have been proven to help businesses do even better. Here are three ways that you can improve the day-to-day running of your warehouse operations starting today.
1 – Organisation
For a business to thrive, their warehouse needs to be clinical in its operations. This means reducing wastage wherever possible, and a well organised warehouse is the key to doing just that. You should turn a critical eye to every action that takes place in your building on an average day and look for ways to speed things up. This could be something as simple as better managing your available space through storage solutions like shelving and racking, or a large-scale change like installing a mezzanine floor to house state-of-the-art machinery.
2 – Commit yourself to Health and Safety
Many businesses view their Health and Safety responsibilities as a burden. However, good Health & Safety management not only shows your employees that you care, but also helps your bottom line. If you cut down on accidents like slips and trips, then you can drive down the number of sick days your employees take off work to recover. Even the smallest of trips can cause long-term damage to your workers who may then develop recurring health issues. What’s more if there is a serious accident at your site and you are proven to have failed in your duty of care then you could risk heavy fines as well as damage to your reputation. Start now with a racking inspection.
3 – Look after your staff and they will look after you
Following on from getting a firm grip on your Health and Safety duties, another way that you can reduce the amount of sick days your employees take is to ensure that your warehouse is a positive place to work. Investing in your employees by providing them with a place to eat their lunch, toilets, a rest area or even just providing them with extra space to carry out their duties can make a big impact on their morale and make them work even harder for you. Take a look at our office partitions for inspiration.
Here at Logical Storage, we know that no two businesses are the same and you may need a combination of different solutions to help optimise your warehouse. For a tailored proposal designed to meet the specific needs of your business, call us on 0845 689 1300.
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.
Many warehouses and factories in the UK rely heavily on racking for their daily duties. Using them to store large quantities of items in a safe and secure manner, they provide the backbone to many of their operations. However, despite this, when it comes to inspecting and repairing vital equipment, racking often gets overlooked in favour of other tools or equipment and is rarely looked after until it’s too late.
Sadly, all too often racking is forgotten when it comes to reviewing how safe and stable equipment is. However, failing to address issues can have a devastating effect on a business. A piece of damaged equipment can reduce load bearing capacity by as much as 40%. It can also lead to the collapse of racking which can endanger both stock and staff.
Despite what you may be thinking, quality racking is not inherently flawed nor is it very easily damaged. More often the problems instead tend to come from human error. Adjusting or re-assembling racking without proper training or guidance can cause racking to become ineffective or unstable. Overloading racking beyond its capacity can do the same and accidents with fork lift trucks impacting racking can be quite common and are part and parcel of a busy warehouse environment.
The key to ensuring a long lifespan for your racking is to undergo regular inspections. This allows the opportunity to carry out both urgent repairs and preventative maintenance which will ensure your racking and stock remains protected and your business can continue to function well. To be absolutely confident in your racking you should have a professional company look at your racking 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.
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.
One of the biggest mistakes that any type of employer can make is to underestimate their legal responsibilities, namely their duty of care as described under the Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act (2007) and the Provisions of Use of Work Equipment Regulations (1998). Failing to protect your staff and to mitigate any potential risks can prove damaging not only financially but also to a business’s reputation if one of their employees is harmed in an accident.
While racking is a fantastic form of storage and can help businesses to optimise their operations, they are not immune from damage and must be regularly inspected for cracks and structural failure. This is why we regularly undertake racking inspections for businesses who are looking to stay on the right side of their Health & Safety obligations.
One of the most common reasons for racking to become damaged is through a lack of planning. If items are too heavy or stored in a way which does not properly distribute their weight then they can overload the structure which will then begin to break down over time. So it is important to make sure you don’t exceed capacity and overload your racking.
Another reason for damage is when forklift drivers accidentally reverse or accelerate into a racking system and cause damage to its structure at speed. Collisions can be quite common in a warehouse so where possible you should look to implement protection such as column guards and make sure that aisles are wide enough and are clear of any obstructions.
Particularly bad damage to racking can cause a structure to collapse altogether. This can be brought about from broken beams, racking that isn’t properly secured to the floor and generally poor racking systems that are badly designed.
The best way to avoid your racking becoming damaged is to regularly undertake racking inspections which minimise the risk of an accident which can damage stock, injure employees and incur financial loss.
We can provide your business with a detailed and comprehensive report of your racking which highlights any damage, missing components or structural imperfections putting you at risk. We will also prepare a detailed AutoCAD drawing which highlights locations requiring attention. If you would like to find out more please call us on 0845 689 1300.
There is no one correct method to effectively running a warehouse and the particular way that you operate will always depend on the nature and needs of your business. However, there are some universal practices which should be adhered to and there are mistakes that can have, or may already be having, an overwhelmingly negative impact on your operations that you may not be aware of.
Poor organisation
An efficient and well organised warehouse space is absolutely essential to the profits of your business. Reducing the amount of time and effort it takes to carry out a task by utilising mezzanine flooring, shelving and racking solutions can have an impressive impact on your picking rate and reduce any unnecessary wastage.
Poor Health and Safety management
While Health and Safety regulations can sometimes seem like an unnecessary burden to businesses, the consequences when something goes wrong are often far worse. Under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act a business can be found culpable for harm that comes to workers due to neglect of your duty of care. This means it is incredibly important to carry out regular inspections of your equipment to make sure they are safe to use.
Neglecting staff needs
It has been proven time and time again that looking after your employees can have a positive impact on your business, reducing levels of absenteeism and making your employees more productive. Investing a small amount of money in creating a partitioned area for a quiet lunch area, toilets or office area for your employees can go a long way towards making their work day more enjoyable.
Here at Logical Storage, we know that no two businesses are the same and you may need a combination of different solutions to help optimise your warehouse. For a tailored proposal designed to meet the specific needs of your business, call us on 0845 689 1300.
It’s October which means that there are only 2 months to go until Christmas! As we know, this is among the busiest time of the year for many retailers as shoppers begin buying presents and businesses gear up for the mayhem of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
However, for owners of warehouses and distribution centres this is an important time to check over the capabilities of your site and ask themselves if they are ready for the pressures of seasonal traffic.
One way that businesses can handle the increase in business around Christmas is to ensure that orders are able to be picked, packed and shipped out quickly. One way to do so is to focus on the right type of storage which allows for the most popular products in stock to be easily accessible.
Two of the available options for achieving this include dynamic push back racking and double-deep racking. The first of which allows for easy access to products and the next for increased storage capacity of said item.
November is also a good time to perform a health check on your infrastructure, particularly the integrity of your racking. An increase in your inventory could mean a significant strain on your racking. Increased load can cause beam damage and cracking, putting not only your inventory but also your employees at risk. Having an inspection now, before a seasonal delivery will identify any existing problems sooner rather than later.
Logical Storage Solutions have extensive experience in performing racking inspections, as well as helping businesses to meet the needs of seasonal demand with a wide range of impressive storage solutions. To find out more click here or call us on 0845 689 1300 to discuss your needs.
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.
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