We are proud to be one of just two organisations throughout Scotland that can provide independent, Storage Equipment Manufacturers’ Association (SEMA)-qualified racking inspections.
We offer thorough and efficient safety audits for racking and shelving installations across the UK.
Our experienced inspectors will arm you with all the information you need to make sure that your storage systems are safe and compliant with the latest health and safety legislation.
Over time, racking inevitably suffers from wear and tear, which can compromise the strength, capacity and integrity of your storage system. This is not surprising when you consider that palletised goods are often stacked higher than two-storey buildings and can weigh several tonnes.
Damaged racking is a danger to both your staff and your business. There are a number of potential risks that are involved, including:
Regular racking inspections will highlight small defects that can usually be repaired on-site with minimal disruption to your operations. This allows you to fix any damage long before it becomes a more serious and costly problem.
Maintaining rack safety is not simply an important warehouse practice: it is a legal obligation. Under the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations of 1992 and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) of 1998, employers are legally required to inspect their work equipment, including all pallet racking. This means that any business with even as little as one bay of racking is required to carry out regular SEMA-approved examinations.
Our inspectors will examine your racking from the ground level in typical operational conditions - i.e. when the system is loaded with pallets and in use.
We carry out all of our inspections in accordance with SEMA Guideline No. 6 Guide to the Conduct of Pallet Racking and Shelving Surveys, paying particular attention to your installation’s beams, uprights, frame bracing, floor fixings and lock-in clips.
Our meticulous audits also take into account factors such as: the condition and types of pallets used; the flooring that the racking is fixed on; forklift operators’ usage; the positioning and types of loads stored on pallets; possible deviation from the original design requirements and general housekeeping. We will then use this information to provide you with advice that has been tailored to your business.
Following your inspection, we will provide a clear and concise report listing any structural damage and signs of overloading as well as easily actionable advice on how to fix them. Our reports categorise damage to racking components into three varying levels of risk:
These are items with negligible damage; no remedial action is required and operatives can continue to use the racking as normal. It is important to identify green levels of risk for future reference and monitoring.
Damage is serious enough to warrant repair, but it does not require the immediate off-loading of the rack. The rack should be off-loaded within four weeks, and should not be re-used until repair work is carried out.
This indicates severe damage that is well beyond the limitations of the SEMA Code. The racking should be off-loaded immediately and isolated from future use until it has been successfully repaired.
The report will recommend a course of corrective action for every sign of damage that it identifies. Thanks to our huge range of racking components and accessories, we are well-placed to provide you with a competitive quotation for the installation of any replacement parts your storage system requires.
At CSI, we offer on-site rack safety training, which will allow your employees to conduct their own regular inspections. We strongly encourage familiarising all staff with your pallet racking systems, ensuring that they understand the difference between signs of regular usage and genuine damage in order to help identify dangerous situations early on.
Our experienced racking inspectors can teach your staff how to integrate safety into their daily routines, helping you to eliminate problems at the source. We can also recommend suitable racking protection accessories, such as column guards and barriers, which can help to prevent damage to high-risk areas of your warehouse.
The frequency of racking inspections required depends on a variety of factors that are particular to your site but, typically, the first inspection should be carried out within 6 months of the installation becoming operational and at least once a year from then on.
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