What Happens If You Don’t Inspect Your Warehouse Racking?

Why Warehouse Racks Must Be Inspected?

– Are warehouse or pallet rack inspections required by OSHA? How often should you inspect them? How much do warehouse or pallet rack inspections cost? We’re answering all these questions and more. Let’s get into it.

When Do You Need To Inspect Pallet Racking?

– Why should you inspect your rack? You should inspect your racking at least once a year, and/or if it ever gets moved or reconfigured, or if you do have an incident, it’s good to have the racking inspected, just make sure that you understand clearly what cause and effect has occurred.

My name is Marc Smith. I’ve been with Mazzella Companies’ Warehouse Solutions Group for about a year and a half. I have been in industrial equipment sales for about 13 years, and prior to that, I was in operations for about 15 years, managing warehouses and distribution settings.

Are Warehouse Rack Inspections Required by OSHA?

Due to the drastic increase in fatalities in warehouse environments over the last three years, OSHA’s strongly encouraging that third-party outfits perform these inspections for companies around the United States.

OSHA does not require that storage rack is inspected on a periodic schedule. However, US law does stipulate that company management is required and responsible for maintaining a safe workplace for its employees.

What Do Inspectors Look for During Rack Inspections?

During a rack inspection, we focus our attention on structural integrity, primarily damage within the columns and the beams. We also focus on any modifications that have been made to the rack, as well as safety clips and fasteners, if those are missing and/or in place, and is the racking properly anchored to the floor. Those are the four, five, six items that we pay closest attention to.

How Often Should You Inspect Warehouse Racking?

You should have your rack inspected at least once a year, but depending on the application, some customers do it as frequently as quarterly.

Racking can absorb quite a bit of damage throughout its life. However, it’s those instances of compromise that you need to take note of and visually inspect regularly to make sure they don’t get worse and don’t become a safety concern.

Regardless of what product’s being stored, the systems themselves need to be safe and secure. So it could be paper, it could be plutonium, the storage systems need to be maintained, anchored, and secure.

Are You Legally at Risk If You Skip Rack Inspections?

The General Safety Clause that OSHA mandates outlines safety requirements for storage systems, and storage rack and pallet racking is included with that mandate. You are not susceptible to fines if you don’t inspect your pallet rack. However, if you have an incident, that will be one of the first questions that they ask.

“How often is your racking being inspected and by who, and what are you doing with that action?” Because again, US law stipulates that management needs to provide a safe workplace.

So if you’re not inspecting storage systems and you have a storage system failure, I would think that would be an infraction, a pretty easy infraction.

Who Sets the Standards for Rack Inspections?

Pallet rack standards and conformity starts from the Rack Manufacturer Institute. They’re the governing body over storage rack.

Can You Inspect Your Racks In-House?

Companies should use a third party for their inspections to ensure that the proper training and experience and compliancy is being put forth in the inspection to make sure nothing gets missed. A company can perform their own inspections if they’re properly trained and they understand the compliancy items that Rack Manufacturer Institute has outlined.

Another reason that companies outsource their safety inspections is to reduce or eliminate biases. Oftentimes, when you’re working around storage systems every day, you have a looser eye on really some of the safety items that may exist, and in addition to that, there’s a lot of compliancy items that Rack Manufacturer Institute outlines for storage systems. So if you’re not up to date and familiar and trained on those items, you could be missing some items.

Our safety inspectors are competent and qualified due to their experience in the industry, as well as their training with the Rack Manufacturer Institute.

How Much Do Rack Inspections Cost?

The cost of an inspection varies on several variables, so there’s no set pricing. We do have levels of inspections, and those levels are determined based on the quantity, the age, the location, the application, and the different types of racking. So there’s multiple variables that go into the cost justification for proposals.

Most one-day rack inspections start around $5,200, but based on the complexity of the system and what’s being asked with regards to engineering, potentially, that price could raise or lower.

Why Rack Inspections Should Be Part of Your Safety Plan

Rack safety inspections are vital to the safety of any workplace. It’s important that it’s done frequently enough to where employees and management alike feel safe in storing their products, that they maintain a safe workplace.

– Inspecting your warehouse should be part of your normal safety protocols. Should an accident or collapse occur due to unchecked issues or damage, your company can be susceptible to OSHA fines, loss of product, unscheduled downtime, lawsuits, or worse, you could be responsible for the death or injury of those working in your warehouse.

Mazzella offers rack inspections, along with engineered warehouse solutions. Whatever your material handling needs, we are here to help, from lifting and rigging to overhead cranes, inspections, service, and training. We are your one-stop lifting shop.

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