Cantilever Racking or Pallet Racking: What’s Best for My Business?

Cantilever Racking or Pallet Racking UK

Operations and logistics are a key part of any business plan, and so any budding entrepreneur who plans on owning a warehouse should take some time to think about the kind of storage solution they will want to use. Deciding between cantilever racking or pallet racking will have important implications for your business as the right choice will mean that your can store more product, more easily, and more safely. All of this, in turn, leads to higher profits and a better business.

Cantilever Racking

Cantilever racking is freestanding racking that gives your warehouse plenty of space and can be positioned in many different ways. The Cantilever racking can be stored back to back in whatever position best suits your warehouse or can be bolted to the floor against a wall. Their simplicity also means that they are easy to assemble. Moreover, the horizontal support arms are free from obstructive vertical or oblique braces means that cantilever racking is great for storing wide loads such as pipes, strips of metal, or planks of wood. Cantilever racking is accessible which will make regular inspections possible, whether it’s from within your company and from a SEMA approved racking inspector.

The Cons of Cantilever Racking

Cantilever racking can be expensive and requires a lot of planning. If your warehouse needs to store lots of wide items and you have limited floor space, then cantilever racking is a worthwhile investment. However, cantilever racking is inappropriate for the storage of pallets.

Pallet Racking

Pallet racking has the advantage of being a heavy duty system that bears a lot of weight. If your business requires the storage of bulky and weighty items, then this is the racking could be a solution for you. Much like cantilever racking, pallet racking is also accessible, making pallet racking inspections possible. Pallets are also design to work well with forklifts, and using a forklift in your business can be a great way to improve efficiency.

The type of racking system which best meets your needs will largely depend on the type of product that you need to store. Whatever racking system you choose, SEMA Racking Inspections can provide you with impartial advice on how best to maintain it and how to avoid damaging it.

Get in touch with SEMA Racking Inspections for a professional inspection of your pallet racking or cantilever racking system!

Top Tips for Warehouse Safety

Warehouse Safety

At SEMA Racking Inspections, we understand that safety in the warehouse is no accident. Rather, it is a culmination of factors, and something that requires people skills as well as logistical skills.

Racking inspections by SEMA Approved Inspectors

The first step in ensuring the safety of any warehouse is following HSE’s guidelines. HSE state that racking systems should be inspected by a “SEMA approved racking inspector” (a SARI) at least once a year. Some people experience “inspection anxiety” before these racking inspections. They fear that their safety standards will not match up to SARI’s safety standards. This feeling is not normal, and it should not be treated as such. If your warehouse is safe, and you have decent safety procedures in place, then a routine check from a SARI should not make you nervous. If you do feel nervous, use that anxiety as a driving force to better your safety procedures.

Racking Inspection Training

HSE also recommend that racking inspections are carried out in your warehouse on a regular basis by “technically competent” people within the business itself. The best way to do this is to make sure that you and your staff receive racking inspection training from a SEMA approved racking inspector.

Clear and Consistent Communication

A good warehouse is an intelligent system of signs, signals, and instructions. However, there is an important distinction to be made between intelligent and confusing. Some people feel that if they have lots of signs, lots of protocols, and lots of complex instructions, then that will keep their warehouse safe. Yet the truth is that the most intelligent communication system is actually the simplest. Of course, this does not mean that instructions and signs should leave out important details either. Rather, it means that instructions and signs should only include information that is relevant. It also means that the same protocols need to be echoed throughout the warehouse. Wording something slightly differently may feel innocent enough, but don’t risk it. Allow no space for interpretation and make sure that everybody gets the same message.

Aisles and Aisles of Floor Space

From the initial plans of your racking layout, to the

day-to-day usage of your warehouse, floor space is something that requires constant attention in your warehouse. At the planning stage, you need to make sure that the racking systems you chose can be accessed easily, for both storage and racking inspections, and that they are decently spaced. If forklifts are going to be driving through your warehouse, then your plan needs to account for that. In terms of day-to-day usage, your floorspace needs to be managed carefully, by forklifts and employees alike, to ensure that it remains unobstructed.

Make sure that your warehouse is as safe as possible with a racking inspection by a SEMA Approved inspector today!

Top 5 Reasons Why HSE Recommend Racking Inspections by SEMA Approved Inspectors

Racking Inspection

It is well known that HSE advises all warehouses have a racking inspection by a SEMA Approved inspector at least once a year, but why is this? There may be other health and safety organisation out there, but here are five reasons why SEMA is the number one when it comes to racking inspections.

1) SEMA’s Philosophy is About Safety Perfection

When Matt Grierson became the president of SEMA, he said that “the safety job’s not done until the industry becomes a zero-accident place to work”. This uncompromising attitude towards achieving the highest safety standards is the cornerstone of SEMA’s philosophy. However, SEMA don’t just talk about safety; they make it happen…

2) SEMA Deliver Results When it Comes to Safety

SEMA was founded in 1970, four years before the government introduced its Health and Safety at Work Act. Since then, HSE and SEMA have worked together to reduce deaths and injuries in the workplace. Between 1974 and 2014, fatal injuries in the British workplace fell by 87%. Between 1974 and 2012, non fatal injuries in the British workplace fell by 77%. Together, HSE and SEMA have helped to make racking systems, and the British workplace in general, much safer.

3) SEMA Have Developed Long Standing Relationships

The British safety industry’s faith in SEMA, when it comes to racking inspection or otherwise, may be why they are the only UK member of FEM (the European Federation of Materials Handling). From this, it is clear that both the British workforce and HSE trust SEMA with racking inspections and warehouse safety both at home and abroad. Added to this, SEMA are also affiliate with organisations like Dexion and the BMHF (the British Materials Handling Federation).

4) SEMA are Always on the Front Line of Racking Safety

SEMA are a big presence when it comes to safety. They take their message directly to the warehousing, distribution, and logistics industry with articles for Warehouse News on racking inspections and racking safety. SEMA are also keen to deliver seminars and training programs and this leads us to the fifth reason the HSE recommend racking inspections by SEMA approved inspectors…

5) SEMA Look to the Future of Racking Safety

In their June 2015 seminar, SEMA outlined their plans for the next 12 months: addressing the environment, developing their relationship with HSE, and creating digital versions of codes. Not long after that, SEMA ran a cantilever training course in July where they also talked about the future. And in November 2015, SEMA will hold their annual safety conference where they will, once again, make plans for the months and years ahead.

With their lengthy relationships with other prestigious British safety institutions, SEMA demonstrate a respect for racking safety’s past. Through their articles for leading safety publications, they demonstrate an understanding of racking safety’s present. And with their seminars and conferences, SEMA demonstrate bold plans for the future of racking safety. So it is no wonder that HSE recommend racking inspections by SEMA approved inspectors.

Contact SEMA Racking Inspections to ensure that your racking is inspection by the only SARI in the London area!

The Importance of Racking Inspection Training

Racking Inspection Training

Any business owner that uses a warehouse will benefit from racking inspection training.

Racking inspection training is a great way to ensure that your warehouse, and your staff, can operate at their full potential. Here are just a few reasons why.

Trained staff are independent staff

If your employees are trained in how to carry out racking inspections, then that is one less thing you have to worry about yourself. Of course, HSE still recommend a visit from a SEMA approved racking inspector at least once a year. However, racking inspection training means that you can let your staff deal with day-to-day racking safety issues without having to hold their hands.

Knowledge is Power

The expression “knowledge is power” is commonly attributed to Francis Bacon and, though he was not referring to racking inspection training when he says those words, the expression still applies. It’s true that profit margins, product desirability, and consumer behaviour are three of the most powerful pieces of knowledge that any business owner can have. However, knowing how to inspect your racking for faults also gives you power. Rather than standing idly by and waiting for somebody to tell you that your warehouse is in bad shape, racking inspection training means that you can take action early. Knowledge, in this case, is the power to reduce the negative impacts that badly maintained and uninspected racking can have on your business.

Communication and Understanding

Most arguments are root in misunderstanding, and this is especially true in business. A third party racking inspector might tell you a whole heap of things that, as a business owner, you don’t want to hear. If you don’t understanding racking safety, then it’s quite easy to simply wave their advice aside. In the long run, this is both dangerous and unprofitable. And all of this can avoided through the communication and understanding acquired by a company wide racking inspection training course.

Business writer Joseph Folkman notes that one of the biggest mistakes that managers make is thinking that telling staff a bunch of things is the same as communicating with them. If everybody is trained on racking safety, then talking about racking safety becomes more than just one person reeling off a list of rules. Rather, it becomes a genuine conversation between people who know the protocols, understand the situation, and can work towards a solution.

Increase communication, gain knowledge, and grant yourself and your staff more independence with SEMA Racking Inspections: the number one safety organisation for racking inspection training run by a SEMA approved racking inspector!