The Ideal Shelving And Racking Safety Inspection Guide

With continuous use of mechanical handling equipment in your warehouse, damage to your shelving and racking installation is inevitable. The ‘Australian Standard 4084’ requests that your shelving and racking installation must be inspected every 12 months, regardless of the size, working loads or traffic. This will eliminate or reduce potential danger of your storage system such as collapsing and the possibility of injury to staff within your work environment.

Although storage equipment is designed to be safe and durable, when damaged or incorrectly installed or loaded it can become dangerous. Here is a shelving and racking safety inspection guide that will help you not only comply with safety regulations and work safer, but also help you spot poor practices in your warehouse that may be going unnoticed.

If you use pallet racking in your warehouse, make sure the pallets you are using match the type of racking you have. Also make sure your system has being properly designed and installed, and this includes it being able to safely withstand the load of the goods and lift trucks and/or other vehicles.

You should use three types of inspection to ensure your shelving and racking system is repaired and maintained properly and safe.

• Immediate reporting of damage and defects – As soon as a damage or safety problem is observed, it should be immediately reported by the employee. Have systems in place for reporting damage and defects of your equipment.
• Visual inspections at regular intervals – The person responsible for shelving and racking safety should ensure that inspections are carried on a regular interval (weekly, for example) and a written record should be maintained.
• Professional inspections carried out at intervals by a qualified person – An expert competent should perform inspections at intervals not longer than 12 months. A written report should be submitted to the responsible person with observations and proposals for any action necessary. An expert competent should be a trained specialist from the supplier or an independent qualified shelve and rack inspector.

As mentioned above, your shelving and racking system should be inspected on a regular basis to ensure it is serviceable and safe. The frequency of inspections will depend on a variety of factors including the frequency and method of your operation along with the size of your warehouse, the equipment you use and personnel involved.