Frequent pallet racking inspections guarantee that your warehouse, storage facility, or distribution center consistently meet provincial and municipal health and safety standards.
Additionally, hiring a professional warehouse inspection service can help to significantly improve the efficiency and functionality of your operations, quickly identifying and rectifying potential hazards and deficiencies in your pallet racking systems. But how do you know when you need a racking inspection? How frequently should you schedule your warehouse racking inspection in Toronto? Lastly, what are the stipulations for comprehensive warehouse racking inspections and how can you ensure that it’s being done correctly?
This article outlines the parameters of a professional warehouse racking inspection and how it can help maximize the functionality, efficiency, and safety standards of your operations to streamline processes.
What Potential Risk Factors Are Associated with Warehouse Pallet Racking Systems?
Pallet racking systems are essential structures in every warehouse, manufacturing facility, and distribution center. They ensure that all incoming and outgoing items are properly organized and stored according to certain specifications to optimize freshness and other product qualities. But there are certain risk factors associated with warehouse pallet racking systems that need to be addressed in a timely manner. Regularly scheduled warehouse pallet racking system inspections performed by professional engineers can adequately address these concerns, mitigate certain risk factors, and guarantee that necessary repairs or part replacements are administered.
Potential risk factors include the following:
Constant Contact with Material Handling Equipment
Material handling equipment such as forklifts, cranes, and dolleys make constant contact with warehouse pallet racking systems. The vibrations caused by the impact of this contact can cause some parts to loosen over time. Pallet racking systems are designed to bear varying load capacities; they’re not necessarily built to withstand the constant impact of warehouse machinery. Impact from heavy material handling equipment can severely damage multiple components of the racking system. If this happens, the structural integrity and load bearing capacity of the entire system weakens and poses potentially serious safety hazards.
Exceeding the Load Capacity of Racking Systems
All pallet racking systems have load capacity and weight bearing limitations. It’s important to adhere to these limitations as exceeding the load capacity also weakens the structural integrity of the entire system. Putting too much pressure on the pallet racking system can cause the entire structure to collapse. Warehouse safety inspectors will assess the load bearing capacity of all of your pallet racks and inform you if any of your structures are being overloaded. They can also help you formulate a feasible solution to reconfigure your pallet racking system to make it function more efficiently and continue to meet your warehouse’s storage needs.
Changing or Removing Pallet Racking System Components
Any alterations or reconfigurations that are made to your pallet racking systems need to be approved and signed off on by a professional pallet racking engineer to ascertain that all of the proper safety measures are applied. Certain reconfigurations such as removing or adjusting a beam can lower the load bearing capacity of your system and your crew needs to be well aware of that when these changes are made.
Why Do You Need Warehouse Racking Inspections?
To keep your operations running smoothly and free of injury-causing incidents, you need to take certain measures that guarantee the safety and functionality of the pallet racking systems in your warehouse. Employee satisfaction and compliance also depends on it. With that in mind, here are a few reasons why you need to prioritize scheduling and performing warehouse pallet racking inspections as often as needed.
Routine Pallet Rack Inspections Are Legally Required in Ontario
According to the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Training, and Skills Development and the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) all warehouse managers and employers are legally responsible to ensure the health and safety of their workers. That includes scheduling regular warehouse pallet racking system inspections at least once every six months or every time modifications are made to the configuration of the structure. All new or modified pallet racking systems are legally subject to a pre-health and safety review (PSR) before they can be put to use. PSRs must be performed by licensed and board-certified engineers.
Maintain Warehouse Health and Safety Standards and Reduce Risk of Injury
Racking system inspections are an integral part of the maintenance and safety compliance process. It’s important to ensure that your racking systems are structurally sound at all times and that their load bearing capacities aren’t being overloaded to ensure that your operations are in full compliance with health and safety standards. Routine inspections ascertain that your structures are fully up to code to help reduce the risk of avoidable on-the-job injuries and fatalities by identifying structural deficiencies and correcting them immediately.
Saves Money and Streamlines Warehouse Processes
Having a professional engineer routinely inspect your warehouse pallet racking systems can help save you a lot of money and make your facility function more efficiently. Certified warehouse inspectors usually have many years of on-the-job experience. They’ve seen it all and they can use that knowledge to make suitable recommendations on how you can maximize your warehouse storage space and optimize operations by making a few simple changes. Whether or not you choose to abide by those recommendations is completely up to you.
How Often Should Your Warehouse Racking System be Inspected?
As mentioned, your warehouse racking system should be inspected at least once or twice a year or as often as you make modifications and repairs to your pallet racks. This will help keep all of your warehouse racking systems up to date and ensure that they’re in compliance with OHSA standards.
Important factors to consider:
- High traffic areas
- Narrow aisles
- Transfer aisles
- Prior damage
- Warehouse temperature fluctuations
Book a Professional Warehouse Racking Inspection in Toronto
Canadian Rack Technologies Inc. is one of the leading suppliers of new, used, and customized pallet racking systems in North America. We also specialize in performing in-depth warehouse pallet rack system inspections and PSRs to ensure that all of our clients are in full compliance of OHSA and Ministry of Labour standards. Contact us today to book a professional inspection for your facility.
About: Kevin Ausman
Kevin Ausman is the founder of Canadian Rack Technologies. He has over 30 years of experience in providing safe and efficient turn-key storage solutions and he specializes in pallet racking, pick systems, industrial shelving, mezzanines, cantilever racks, and more. Kevin is dedicated to providing great customer service, listening to client’s needs, and supplying the best products available.