What is the best way to ensure racking is not overloaded?

[Reiver]

In the spirit of "there is no such thing as a stupid or daft health and safety question - What is the best way to ensure pallet racking is not overloaded?

[Alexis]

Hi Reiver.

Just a warm welcome from me really. Our members working with this problem on a daily basis will, I am sure, come in with their experienced thoughts.

All racking, as far as I am aware, should be labelled with the Safe Working Load (SWL) and have staff who are trained not to flaunt the amount on the label, would be the simple answer. Of course, we all know people don't always adhere to such, especially if working in a quick turnaround environment where time is of the essence. This is where our members will be able to offer some ideas that they know to have helped.

Good to have you aboard.

p.s. I have just found a very old, but in-depth reply in the IOSH forums. http://forum.iosh.co.uk/posts/t72002-Ra ... oad-limits

[grim72]

As per Alexis and the link provided, the SWL sign is a good starting point but I'd add regular training and routine inspections to be incorporated too to ensure everyone stays focused on the importance of correct loading. As we enter the build up to Christmas a lot of warehouses will become busier than normal, stock levels may start to increase and the temptation to squeeze more onto racks (or into aisles) is more prevalent - add into the equation temporary staff and it doesnt take long before a normally well managed warehouse sees best practice fall by the wayside.

I write this article last year to cover some of the things to consider during busy periods - not all strictly related to the overloading issue but all points worth bearing in mind. http://www.ipesearch.co.uk/page_783664.asp

[quality_somerset]

Hi Reiver

1) Make sure you know the weight of the pallets

2) Make sure that you know the rackings' SWL for each arm, and the total load for each upright

3) Introduce a system for the periodic checking of the racking, paying particular attention to damaged arms and uprights; you may also wish to get an external company to check your racks periodically

4) Make sure that your staff are trained; all racking and loads are different and you will need need to make sure that all staff are competent and supervised

5) Make sure that your forklift is LOLER tested and fully maintained; a daily check should also be carried out by the user

6) Make sure that environmental factors such as lighting, floor condition are in good order

Regards
QS

[Reiver]

Thanks for the excellent responses.

I am still purplexed at how a periodic inspection can protect against ensuring the racking is not overloaded. Could I ask members: does anyone have experience of or know of an incident where racking has actually collapsed because of overloading or racking that has actually been dangerously overloaded (Near or over the SWL).

[grim72]

I'd say the routine checks should help spot anything that simply looks wrong - either in terms of sagging/broken pallets (which might suggest overloading) or badly positioned/overstocked pallets. in such cases you could offload the racking and check weights/re-palletise before returning to the racking.

There is a fair bit of info in this HSE publication regarding the weight load - see page 111 http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/hsg76.pdf

"The weight of each palletised load should be established before a decision is made to store it in the racking. This is particularly important where
different products are stored which may vary considerably in weight, or where a new line of product is brought into the warehouse for the first time. In some situations, it may not be necessary to establish the weight of each palletised load, if the racking system is designed and installed to meet the storage requirements of the heaviest palletised load in your company’s operation. Nevertheless, you should adopt a system to ensure that all palletised loads intended for storage in racking can be safely stored in accordance with the particular racking design and installation."

Page 115 also gives some info on the need for the inspections.

In terms of identifying weights of pallets before placing them on the racking (assuming they can vary from day to day) you can get pallet scales/weigh beams and then ensure the combined weights of pallets on a rack are in line with your specifications as shown on your SWL notice (http://www.sema.org.uk/load-notices)

There is a little info here regarding pallet scales which might be of use: https://www.inscale-scales.co.uk/blog/e ... let-scales


Hope this helps. There are plenty of videos showing racking collapses online and examples of them (lookup the one at the cheese factory last year: http://goodtogosafety.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=cheese) They may not be purely down to overloading (more often than not it's due to a collision) but if the structure is weakened by overloading then the impact of a collision can be more significant I would suggest?

[bernicarey]

I am still purplexed at how a periodic inspection can protect against ensuring the racking is not overloaded.

There are very limited ways to ensure that racking is not overloaded, basically
A - Don't use it
B - Space horizontal beams it so that a heavier pallet can never be put on it because it would be too tall.

All you can do is take sufficient, practicable and reasonable measures to mitigate against overloading.

You've really got to go some to have a collapse caused by a single incident of an overweight pallet. Gradual distortion of the system, by repeated or long term over weight loading, will be detected by periodic inspections.

[abarnett]

I am still purplexed at how a periodic inspection can protect against ensuring the racking is not overloaded.

Hi Reiver,

The reason that the periodic inspection can protect against overloading is that, if your racking has sustained damage (e.g. FLT strike), this may impact the safe working load and a decision made to offload to prevent a collapse. A periodic inspection may also show signs of stress on racking if you are inadvertently overloading it and may allow you to take action to prevent a collapse.

Agree with some of the other responses - you need to know the SWL of the racking - both the overall load bearing capacity but also for each level and what the load distribution should look like. Your racking should have a load plate that shows the SWL.

To ensure you aren't exceeding the SWL, you need to understand the weights that you are putting onto each pallet. I'm quite fortunate in that my business doesn't store items that are going to exceed the SWL of the racking we have installed. if you think yours may be overloaded then you may want to introduce some form of record keeping for your product holding.

Hope that helps

Andy