What to Expect During a Pallet Rack Safety Inspection

Warehouse Fatalities Are Skyrocketing

– According to OSHA, the number of fatal injuries in warehouse and storage facilities increased 23% from 2020 to 2021. They also held one of the highest non-fatal injury rates. Because of this, OSHA has been highly recommending that companies have their racking inspected by a third party.

Today we’re going to show you exactly what a rack safety inspection looks like, so you know what to expect.

What Are The Key Categories Inspectors Evaluate?

– My name is Marc Smith and I’ve been with Mazzella Companies Warehouse Solutions Group for about a year and a half.

Our rack inspection’s going to cover six main categories of concern, ranging from damage, to missing fasteners, to modifications, to rack application, and rack interface. We will outline all those items and bring any concerns to the customer’s attention immediately.

What Happens During a Pallet Rack Safety Inspection?

So during today’s inspection, we’re going to walk bay to bay, system to system, individually, and we’re going to document and photograph anything that we feel is a concern based on our experience, and we will then catalog all those concerns and present those to the customer.

Alright, we’re all set, let’s go see what we can find!

What Does the Customer Need To Prepare Before the Warehouse Rack Inspection?

– [Ben] So, Marc, while you’re inspecting, so what happens before the inspection? Is there anything that the customer needs to do or prepare before you arrive?

– We want to make sure that the employees know why we’re here. We don’t want to be a distraction to their operations throughout the day. Secondly, we need to make sure that we can gain clear visual access to the storage systems.

What Information Is Needed To Quote a Pallet Rack Inspection?

– [Ben] What are some of the things that the customer’s going to want to know before calling you for a quote? What should they come prepared with?

– What we need to know is the amount of storage that they have, how many aisles, how many bays, what the configuration is, preferably, and what type of storage they have. So the amount and the type and if they have a layout or drawing of their facility, that would be helpful as well and/or any pictures. That could help us make sure that we quote that properly.

– [Ben] What if they don’t know what size it is exactly? Do you have a way of figuring out how long it might take, based off of a guesstimate?

– Yeah, we can do assessments from afar. We use Google Maps or we can just have a conversation with some of their warehouse folks to get an idea.

The inspections are really a time standard, how old is the racking, in their opinion, and what shape is it in, and then really how much and what type is it.

Is an Aerial Lift Required To Inspect Warehouse Racking?

– [Ben] Do you go up in the air at all or is everything done from the ground?

We prefer to do ground inspections. We can use aerial lifts if needed. 90% of all the damage that we find can be visually inspected from the floor, so from a time perspective and safety perspective, we prefer to stay on the ground.

Will Operations Be Interrupted During a Pallet Rack Inspection?

– [Ben] Does the facility need to be shut down or does a part of the facility need to be shut down for the inspection or can operations go as usual?

– As long as we communicate properly with the employees and they understand why we’re here and what our goals are, we normally don’t have many issues. Our goal is not to disrupt the customer’s operations.

What Happens if Issues With the Racking Are Found?

– [Ben] So you just found an issue here, Marc, so what happens? Does the customer need to do anything? Does it depend on if it’s minor, if it’s major?

– Yeah, this is a minor damage that we’re going to note, we’re going to bring to the customer’s attention. If it was more severe, we would recommend possibly locking it out or maybe tagging it out, but we’ll review that with the customer before we leave site today.

So my notes, coupled with the pictures that I take of the areas of concern, will later get brought together and then cataloged into a report. Report’s generated between one and two weeks following a site visit and that will be presented with the customer and reviewed with them specifically.

If there’s damage that’s severe enough to where it’s unsafe, we’ll recommend that they offload the product from the racking system and then find some way to visually let people know operators, and employees know not to resume storing in that area. We call it a lockout tag out, but it could be ropes, could be fencing, safety tape of sorts.

How Long Does a Warehouse Pallet Rack Inspection Take?

– [Ben] So Marc, how long does it usually take?

– It really depends on the condition of the rack and the amount of the rack. If it’s all new racking and it’s the size of a Home Depot, it could take a full day, it could take two days.

If it’s old racking that’s half the size of a Home Depot, that could take three days. If you’re having to catalog and picture and notate every other upright or every other beam or storage space, that’s going to take you a long time versus being able to cover a full aisle and have just minimal concerns to report on.

– [Ben] So really it depends on, is the racking really damaged and you’re going to have to make a lot of stops, or can we just kind of cruise through the aisles and you’re not going to find a lot.

– That’s right, I mean, you’re still checking every upright, every storage bay, every cross beam, but if every one of those uprights has a damage or is missing components or has modifications that are of concern, then you have to document each of those individually.

What Can You Expect From Your Pallet Rack Safety Inspection Report?

So we try to identify areas of concern by color. Green, we don’t report on, those are, green is go, green is good. Yellow is caution, proceed with caution. Those are items that we would ask the customer to periodically or even daily, potentially, review to make sure they don’t get any worse. And then red are, a code red or a stop now, stop using now, kind of indicator.

– [Ben] So yellow doesn’t necessarily mean you have to replace it immediately, but more of, “hey, this is a problem, you better keep an eye on it, you might want to…”

– Yeah, it’s a cautious indicator, you know, let’s be careful about this area.

I would discuss that with the warehouse employees or the warehouse management team rather, and then they would, they would be responsible for communicating that to their lift truck operators and so forth. I mean, collectively the team needs to be, it’s a culture that you want to try to create, of safety.

– [Ben] And let’s say they say, “We don’t want any yellow in our facility. We want green.” Can you help generate a quote and can you help let them know what they’ll need to replace it and everything like that before you leave the premises?

– Yeah, absolutely. We work directly with the largest manufacturers and distributors of storage racks in the country. So regardless of what type or brand or make or model that they have, if they would like to replace or repair components, we can certainly help them with that.

What Should You Do After Receiving Your Pallet Rack Safety Inspection Report?

– [Ben] So Marc, what should the customer do once they receive their inspection report and they know all the issues that they may or may not have in the facility?

– The report should be reviewed with their management team and their operations team to make sure they’re on a clear understanding of what the expectation is, what the Rack Manufacturer Institute Guidelines are, and decide internally how compliant, and what their course of action might be moving forward to become more compliant and more safe.

– [Ben] And if you find a lot of different problems, you mentioned that training might be something that you want to focus a little bit more on. Does Mazzella offer training or do they need to go to the manufacturers for training?

– It depends on what type of training, but with regards to lift truck training, they should refer back to their provider of the equipment for that type of training.

We can consult based on our experience and our training, we can provide consultation services at no charge as part of the reporting process.

At the end of the day, we want to be a good partner to them and make sure they understand what the expectation is and what industry standards are.

So we’re about finished here. It was a great day on site, we did find a handful of issues that we’re going to bring to the customer’s attention. I have plenty of notes to refer to. We’re going to review with the customer all their code red items that we feel should be addressed immediately and then the cautionary items will be cataloged in addition to the code red items, of course, at a later date. And the customer could expect that in one to two weeks, traditionally, unless they have a different timeframe that we could work with, of course.

Why Are Pallet Rack Safety Inspections Critical for Workplace Safety?

– [Ben] Why are rack inspections important? Why do you think people should do them?

– Rack inspections are vital for the proper safety. In the United States, company management’s responsible for providing a safe workplace, work environment for their employees. There’s been a 23% increase in warehouse related injuries over the last three years, so OSHA’s really encouraging people to outsource these types of inspections to trained professionals within the industry.

How Can You Learn More About Warehouse Rack Inspections?

Hopefully you now have a better idea of what to expect from a rack safety inspection. Inspecting your warehouse should be part of your normal safety protocols. Accidents or failures could be catastrophic to your operations and your team. Keeping your team safe during their workday is what is most important.

Whatever your material handling needs, we’re here to help! From lifting and rigging, to overhead cranes, inspections, service and training, we’re your one-stop lifting shop.

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