How to Protect Your Warehouse Investment with Pallet Rack Safety Accessories

read more

One of the biggest investments in a warehousing and fulfillment operation is the pallet rack system.  Your pallet rack design must be flexible enough to be timeless – not just simply to hold the weight of multiple levels of pallets, but to withstand the rigors of day-to-day order throughput, forklift interface, and occasional damage.  The performance of your pallet rack system has a direct impact on your bottom line.

So how do you ensure that your system continues to operate safely and efficiently?  Protect your rack from potential damage and operational breakdowns by installing safety products that are available during the initial rack installation or be added at a later point as potential danger areas are identified.

Some of the most frequently used pallet racking safety accessories areApex Pallet Rack Safety Accessory - Row End Protector:

  • Row End Protectors – Steel angle bolted to the floor to protect rack along the aisles (see image right).

 

  • Column Protectors – Rack protection of in-aisle uprights. Available in a number of shapes, sizes, and materials.

 

  • Rub Rails – Heavy horizontal pieces bolted or welded toward the bottom of the frame to help absorb impact and prevent the pallet racking frame from bending or twisting.

Apex Cant Leg Pallet Rack Frame

 

  • Cant Leg Frame – Aisle-side column where the lower section is bent inward at a slight angle creating additional room for the forklift forks (see image right).

 

Personnel safety accessories add an additional measure of security to your system, such as:

 

  • Highway Guard Rails – Prefabricated industrial steel guard rails protect expensive equipment, machinery and personnel

Apex pallet Rack Safety Accessory - netting

  • Capacity Signs – Load plaques clearly showing rack engineered capacities should be featured in several obvious locations around the rack
  • Safety Netting – Installed vertically or horizontally to protect pedestrian walkways, and workspaces from objects falling from the back and in between the racks

 

Racking material can also provide a measure of protection in itself. Structural steel frames are fork truck abuse-resistant and can be designed to be repaired in-place limiting expensive downtime.

Apex Warehouse Systems has safety specialists that can conduct single-time or routine assessments of your complete racking system to ensure compliance to OSHA safety regulations and the Rack Manufacturer Institute’s (RMI) design guidelines. Our safety assessment will include a review of the following:

Pallet Rack Structural Integrity

  • Frame and bracing damage
  • Beam deflection
  • Deviation from intended design
  • Hardware connections
  • Weld quality
  • Pallet Condition

Pallet Racking System Application

  • Proper storage type for application
  • Loading/unloading procedures
  • Loading capacity

pallet rack frame repair videoApex can also facilitate all on-site pallet racking repairs quickly and economically while minimizing day-to-day operation disruptions.

Lastly, we can also provide pallet rack safety training for your entire team. They will learn how to identify pallet rack damage, how to assess higher risk areas, and when it’s time to report problems to management. Take a look at the short how-to video (left). We also provide forklift operator training too if needed.

Protect your investment and in this case, your investment will really protect you too.  Save on costly repairs, product damage, downtime, and even worker injury and related claims with a complete safety review and by installing recommended protection items.  If you have any questions for us or would just like to get started, give us a call today!