Is it a Legal Requirement to have an Annual Racking Inspection?

Legal Requirement to an Annual Racking Inspection

HSE’s pallet racking inspection requirements can be quite confusing to someone who is new to running a warehouse. That’s why we want to make things a little clearer.

As the British government’s main health and safety department, the racking inspection requirements HSE recommend are extremely important. The word “recommend” can sometimes lead to confusion, however, and this is problematic as it is a word used through HSE’s primary guide to warehouse safety.

It is based on this guide that a warehouse owner’s legal responsibilities towards the maintaining the safety of their warehouse are defined. That does not mean, however, that a warehouse owner needs to follow every single word of the document precisely in order to be on the right side of the law. At the beginning of the document, HSE make this short — but extremely important — caveat:

“This guidance is issued by the Health and Safety Executive. Following the guidance
is not compulsory and you are free to take other action. But if you do follow the
guidance you will normally be doing enough to comply with the law. Health and
safety inspectors seek to secure compliance with the law and may refer to this
guidance as illustrating good practice.”

In beginning their guide with this caveat, HSE give warehouse owners a lot of legal leeway. Why do they do this? And what does this mean? To understand, let’s take a step back and look at the CDM regulations and HSE’s stance on workplace safety in general.

“Reasonably Practicable”: Pallet Racking Inspection Requirements According to HSE

Since 1974, the broadest and simplest definition of responsibility under HSE law is as follows:

“Ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of yourself and others who may be affected by what you do or do not do.”

With regards to warehouse owners, this statement from HSE means that you need to make sure that anybody — not just your employees — who “affect by what you do or do not do” is safe in your warehouse. In other words, warehouse owners are legally obliged to ensure the safety of everyone who enters their warehouse “so far as is reasonably practicable”.

“Reasonably practicable” does not mean that you need to ensure the safety of everybody who enters your warehouse at all costs. For example, the safest way to guarantee the safety of everybody who works in your warehouse would be to dismantle all of your racking systems and send everybody home. This would certainly eliminate all risk, but it would be ludicrous to call it a racking inspection requirement.

“Reasonably practicable” means taking common sense advice and — in the case of racking inspection requirements — it means following HSE’s advice as outlined in HSG76, the document most relevant to warehouse health and safety.

Pallet Racking Inspection Requirements According to HSE’s HSG76

In HSG76, HSE recommend a racking inspection by a SEMA approved inspector at least once a year for all warehouses in the UK, as well as weekly racking inspections from a “technically competent” staff member. So is that recommendation legally binding?

No, it’s not. That’s what HSE means when they say “you are free to take other action”. However, HSE go on to state that “if you do follow the guidance you will normally be doing enough to comply with the law”.

The new CDM regulations make all of this even clearer. Whereas before, the legal responsibility of the safety of employees share between HSE and the warehouse owner, now the onus is solely on the warehouse owner to ensure the safety of employees in their warehouse.

So, Is it a Legal Requirement to have an Annual Racking Inspection?

No.

However, in not having an annual racking inspection, employers and warehouse owners go against HSE’s advice. This means that if an accident related to racking were to happen, they would be both legally and morally responsible. In not having a racking inspection by a SEMA approved inspector, a person could argue that the warehouse owner did not ensure their safety “so far as is reasonably practicable”.

HSE, SEMA, and we at Storage Equipment Experts all recommend a racking inspection by a SEMA approved inspector at least once a year. We pride ourselves on our knowledge of pallet racking inspection requirements and on what makes a racking inspection by a SEMA approved inspector the HSE-approved protocol that it is.

Be sure to follow HSE’s advice and make sure your business has a racking inspection by a SEMA approved inspector.

Do My Staff Need to Take the SEMA Racking Inspection Training Course?

SEMA Racking Inspection Training Course

The SEMA racking inspection training course is a program run by SEMA which is designed to give people the ability to become SEMA approved racking inspectors (SARIs).

“Do my staff need to take SEMA’s racking inspection training course?”

The short answer is no.

But why is that? Why wouldn’t you want your staff to receive the SEMA racking inspection training course?

The SEMA Racking Inspection Training Course is Designed for Future SEMA Approved Racking Inspectors

The racking inspection training course is a course run by SEMA itself in order to help those with a background in structural engineering or similar pursue a new career. People who pass this course become qualified SEMA approved racking inspectors (SARI). As of right now, there are only 93 SEMA approved racking inspectors.

If a member of your staff wants to become the 94th SEMA approved racking inspector, that is a serious commitment and — more than that — it’s a career in of itself. In fact, in order to maintain their SARI status, they will need to perform a certain number of racking inspections as SEMA approved racking inspector every year.

Added to all this, SEMA approved racking inspectors are expected to attend a set amount of seminars and conferences in order to keep their knowledge up to date. In short, being a SEMA approved racking inspector requires a lot of time, money, and effort.

The SEMA racking inspection training course is a great thing as it creates racking inspection experts, but it’s also a gateway to a new career. It’s only something that an employee would want or need if they no longer wanted to work for your company.

HSE Recommend that Staff Perform Racking Inspections Once a Week. So Where Can My Staff Get Racking Inspection Training?

If you want your staff to be able to perform the sort of weekly racking inspections which HSE recommends, look no further than right here. Our racking inspection training course is run by a SEMA approved racking inspector. This means that your staff will be able to inspect warehouse racking according to SEMA guidelines without the time and cost of sending them on a three-day racking inspection training course. Our course lasts just one day and will give your staff all the knowledge they need in order to perform weekly racking inspections, as per HSE’s guidance.

Storage Equipment Experts’ racking inspection services are critically acclaimed by a long list of great British and Irish businesses. To name but a few, White Stuff, Smiffys, and the Tate Modern all recommend Storage Equipment Experts.

5 More Reasons to Get Racking Inspection Training from Storage Equipment Experts!

Just in case you’re not quite convinced, here are five more reasons to give your staff racking inspection training from our SEMA approved racking inspector…

  • Our SEMA approved racking inspectors are willing and very able to travel to anywhere in UK & Ireland quickly and easily.
  • Our SEMA approved racking inspectors have produced countless articles on the subject of warehouses safety, rack safety, and health and safety in general — all of which means that he knows his industry inside out.
  • Our SEMA approved racking inspectors are qualified by SEMA to inspect both adjustable pallet racking and cantilever racking; there are only 34 people which hold both of these qualifications.
  • Our racking inspection training course is available at the extremely competitive price of £225 + VAT per person.
  • We also offer a warehouse racking inspection checklist (written by SEMA approved racking inspectors) and an infographic detailing how to use the checklist… for free!

So what are you waiting for? Contact Storage Equipment Experts today for a quote on racking inspections from a SEMA approved inspector or for a racking inspection training courses.

Trick or Treat? An Inspection of HSE’s 2016 Safety Record

health and safety blue rounded squares

Halloween’s approaching and 2016 is winding to a close, so it’s time for an inspection of HSE’s 2016 safety record so far.

There’s nothing scarier than workplace danger. Ghosts and goblins may be synonymous with Halloween, but any inspection of HSE’s previous annual reports goes to show that there is much to fear about a dangerous workplace.

Here at Storage Equipment Experts, we’ve decided to put together an inspection of HSE’s 2016. HSE has released reports, guides, made commitments, and had quite a big executive shakeup. But what does all this mean? Is it bad or good? Trick or treat?

A 2016 Inspection: HSE Report Reveals a Slight Rise in Workplace Fatalities

Every year, HSE releases a report on the rate of workplace fatalities in the UK, as well as the sheer number of them. During the 2015/2016 period there has been a slight rise in workplace fatalities (both in number and by rate) when compared to the 2014/2015 period.

However, upon a broader inspection of HSE’s report on workplace fatalities, it’s clear that this rise is part of a general trend of workplace fatalities decreasing. Workplace fatalities are almost half of what they were during the 2000/2001 period and, in the 2013/2014 period, workplace fatalities were at an all-time low.

In HSE’s full 2016 report, they state that workplace fatality rates in the UK are lower than every other European country with the exception of Malta. However, it’s worth noting that this data, despite being referenced in HSE’s 2016 report, is from the 2013 period.

When it comes to workplace fatalities, 2016 has been something of a mixed bag for HSE. Their standards are still extremely high, but it’s hard to argue that things have improved since 2013.

A 2016 Inspection: HSE’s Executive Shakeup

After over eight years of service running HSE, Dame Judith Hackitt stepped down from HSE’s Chair of the Board in April 2016. This was big news at the time, and it’s still big news now. Since she left the position, the government has also announced four big changes to the board of non-executive directors. So what does all of this change mean?

Right now, it’s early days, so it’s quite hard to say. On the one hand, it’s a positive thing to see HSE hire two women and two men at the same. It goes to show that they are serious about their continued commitment to workplace equality, both within across the UK and within HSE itself. On the other hand, some have criticised HSE’s appointment of Susan Johnson; someone with a working background which — some argue — does not qualify her for the position.

A 2016 Inspection: HSE’s New Strategy

Before stepping down from her role as HSE chair, Dame Judith Hackitt helped to author a new strategy for HSE. An inspection of HSE’s new guide reveals a commitment to maintaining high standards and keeping pace with change, but no solid commitments to achieving specific goals. The guide is available for free from the HSE website and they have been keen to get the word out about it. The guide was released alongside a lot of new content on their YouTube channel and a new hashtag on Twitter (#helpGBworkwell).

What all of this will mean for small businesses is unclear. If nothing else, it will give HSE the ability to voice their side of the story to the public, rather than the public only hearing about HSE through angry comments, usually containing health and safety myths.

A 2016 Inspection: HSE’s Guide to Common Sense Makes the News

In March 2016, before stepping down as chair of HSE, Dame Judith Hackitt featured in The Guardian, The Independent, and The Belfast Telegraph with something of a rant about the UK’s current attitude towards health and safety. Specifically, Hackitt was referring to the way in which children are introduce to health and safety in schools.

Whenever HSE tries to guide schools, there is often a lot of cynicism about it. However, upon inspection of HSE’s involvement with schools, it becomes clear that their influence is actually quite innocent. Much of the bad press HSE receives about their excessive rule-making in British schools is often some kind of health and safety myth.

By contrast, Hackitt’s opinion is that we should have a more common sense attitude to children’s health and safety. She bemoans the “excessively risk-averse” culture of schools which has been bred from teachers’ fears of upsetting parents.

Her opinions were widely read, but there is the possibility that some corners of the public will interpret them as hypocrisy. To some, HSE is the cause of our “excessively risk-averse” culture, not the solution.

A 2016 Inspection: Our Verdict on HSE’s Year

At Storage Equipment Experts, we believe that HSE’s 2016 has been a net positive. The missteps they may have made were taken with the best possible intentions. The organisation has continued to ensure that the UK’s workplace fatality rate is one of the very lowest in Europe and that it continues to slowly decline.

We also respect HSE’s continued commitment to warehouse racking inspections. While the cuts to HSE funding have drawn criticism, HSE and Storage Equipment Experts are still working together to make certain that warehouses, pallet racking systems, and all elements of the British workplace remain as safe as possible.

Has 2016 been a safe year for your business? Contact Storage Equipment Experts for a warehouse racking inspection.

SEMA Safety Tip: Straightening Damaged Uprights is “High Risk”

Straightening Damaged Uprights is "High Risk",SEMA Safety Tip from Storage Equipment Experts

Almost two years after the November 2014 SEMA safety conference, some people still believe that straightening damaged uprights is a safe way to repair racking. That just isn’t true.

We have long believed that SEMA safety conferences are extremely important to the world of warehouse safety. The build up to a SEMA safety conference, the events of a SEMA safety conference, and what follows after a SEMA safety conference can lead to big changes to warehouse and racking safety.

In a technical bulletin released in October 2014, one month before that year’s SEMA safety conference, SEMA made this statement about repairing damaged uprights by straightening them:

“With regards to any repair methods that claim there is no need to offload pallets in order to carry out the repair, SEMA’s opinion is that this is a high risk procedure and advises that such claims run counter to HSG 76 recommendations.”

The statement is as logical as it is unambiguous: racking cannot be repaired by straightening. Moreover, any repair method which is performed without the racking being offloaded contradicts HSG 76 (Warehousing and Storage: A Guide to Health and Safety). In this authoritative guide from HSE, the advice is crystal clear:

“Where damage is identified that affects the safety of the racking system, the racking should be offloaded and controls introduced to prevent it being used until remedial work has been carried out.”

Why do SEMA and HSE advise against repairing damaged uprights by straightening them?

Straightening damaged uprights is very dangerous for two reasons.

Firstly, carrying out any repair that affects a racking system without first offloading the racking massively increases the risk of a racking collapse. While offloading an entire racking system can take a lot of time, not offloading a racking system when it needs repairing can — and sometimes does — lead to workplace fatalities.

When racking is damaged to the extent that it is visibly bent and misshapen, it needs to be offloaded immediately. This is what HSE identify as a “red risk”. To leave the racking system loaded and to embark on repairs while knowing the system is damaged is a completely unnecessary gamble. If disaster were to happen, if someone were to die as a result of an employer not offloading a racking system which they knew full well was damaged, it would be entirely the employer’s fault. This is made clear with new CDM regulations’ definitions of client responsibility. From both a moral and a legal standpoint, trying to repair racking that has not been offloaded is just wrong.

Secondly, repairing an upright by using hydraulic equipment to straighten doesn’t work. No racking manufacturer claims that it would work and SEMA has outright stated that it doesn’t work.

Rather, SEMA argue that straightening damaged uprights makes them weaker. They argue that it leads to metal fatigue and they recommend the replacement (not the repair) of uprights that have been bent. When uprights are straightened, the original racking system has been modified and — in doing so — it voids the manufacturer’s warranty, the carrying capacity, and the safety guarantee.

Damaged uprights need to be replaced, not repaired. And, of course, for the damaged upright to be replaced, all stored items in the area of the damaged racking system need to be offloaded.

If SEMA and HSE’s safety advice is so clear, why is there still confusion?

Less than one year after SEMA categorically denounced straightening pallet racking uprights as “high risk”, ROS UK appeared in Warehouse News, claiming to have patented a specific kind of service: straightening pallet racking uprights.

In the article, it states that ROS UK can repair racking “without the need to unload a single pallet or product”.

So why is it that a business like ROS UK are able to offer this service when both HSE and SEMA agree that racking cannot be repaired until the system has been offloaded?

In part, the reason for this is HSE’s new CDM regulations. The 2007 regulations meant that the responsibility for the safety of a workplace, building site, or design project was shared by the “client” (the employer or contractor) and HSE itself. By contrast, the new CDM regulations (introduced in 2015) mean that the onus of responsibility is solely on the client.

In other words, HSE’s role is to advise the client on safety; it is the role of the client to ensure that safety is carried out. And so, if a client decides to hydraulically straighten their uprights in order to repair them, they are perfectly entitled to do so.

However, they do so entirely against both SEMA and HSE’s recommendations and, if tragedy happens and the racking collapses, they will have no-one to blame but themselves. HSE’s new CDM regulations mean that HSE are no longer at fault when clients go against their advice.

ERF Steps in with a New Storage Equipment Bulletin

In an attempt to make matters even clearer than they are already, ERF (the European Racking Federation, also known as FEM) released a storage equipment bulletin in March 2016. The bulletin contains this direct warning about straightening damaged uprights:

“This method of repair is not currently recommended by any racking manufacturers”

SEMA are a British member of the ERF and, as such, they are in agreement with them on many racking issues. The danger of straightening of uprights is yet another issue on which SEMA and ERF agree.

In short, SEMA, the ERF, and HSE do not recommend straightening damaged uprights. And neither do we.

Are your uprights in working condition? Contact us now for a rack safety inspection. As a SEMA approved racking inspector, we respect SEMA’s opinions on safety and always recommend that bent uprights are replaced, not repaired.

How to Prevent MSDs Through Regular Warehouse Racking Inspections?

Warehouse Racking Inspections

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are a huge problem in the world of warehousing, and regular warehouse racking inspections and warehouse racking inspection training are the solution.

On October 20th, HSL (the Health and Safety Laboratory, the British government research group dedicated to finding solutions to workplace health and safety issues) will be running a course on how to prevent MSDs and other upper limb disorders (ULDs). They have good reason to do so. After all, MSDs are “the most common occupational illness in Britain affecting over 500,000 people a year”.

Half a million people is a lot — more than the entire population of Bristol — so it’s hardly surprising that the government wants to reduce that figure. One way to bring down MSDs is through regular warehouse racking inspections.

How Does Warehouse Work Cause MSDs?

According to HSE’s 2015 report of work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WRMSD), 44% of all work related injuries and illnesses are caused by WRMSDs. That is an enormous amount, so figuring out the leading causes of WRMSDs is vital.

In the report, HSE state that the three sectors with the highest rate of WRMSDs are agriculture, construction, and transport and storage. Agriculture and construction are two industries that use warehouses a lot, and transport and storage is an industry to which warehouses are absolutely essential — all of which goes to show that warehouse work is responsible for a lot of WRMSDs.

So what is it about warehouse work that is so dangerous?

In the same report, HSE state that leading cause of WRMSDs across all work sectors is lifting and carrying, which is the bulk of almost all work that goes on in warehouses.

Why is Lifting and Carrying So Dangerous?

Whenever you lift something, you run a small risk of damaging your bones and muscles. This risk can be more or less eliminated if lifting is done safely. The advice from the NHS is easy to follow and adopted by many workplaces: keep the load to the waist, don’t bend your back, don’t twist, etc.

However, in many workplaces, it is also evidently the case that this advice is not followed. When workers are under stress or are forced to rush their lifting, mistakes happen. We all know that one really badly performed lift can lead to serious injury. More common than that, though, is the fact that many of those bad lifts lead to serious illness over time.

How do Warehouse Racking Inspections Help?

Warehouse racking inspections condone the same philosophy that underpins safe lifting: slow down and be careful. When the two disciplines are combined, warehouses illnesses and injuries drop dramatically.

Properly inspected warehouses are places where objects of the proper weight are stored in the right place on level surfaces. Uneven surfaces or badly stored objects force workers to twist and jerk as they lift objects. Over time, this is what leads to MSDs.

A warehouse with properly inspected racking creates a flat, even surface for a worker to store an object. Workers storing objects on these shelves will find it easier to do so.

When warehouse racking inspection frequency is as high as it should be, the whole warehouse becomes an easier and tidier place to work. This tidiness isn’t just superficially nice; it’s the essence of good warehousing.

What Warehouse Racking Inspection Frequency do I Need to Ensure that my Warehouse is Safe?

A warehouse racking inspection from a racking inspection expert (such as a SEMA approved rack inspector) should happen at least once a year. Though, if your staff notice a problem with a racking system — either because lifting has been made more difficult or because of some other issue — then you should book yourself a warehouse racking inspection right away.

Better still, if your staff receive warehouse racking inspection training, they can inspect a warehouse themselves using a warehouse racking inspection checklist. HSE recommends that staff perform rack safety inspections themselves once every week using a green risk, amber risk, and red risk system. Giving them training on racking inspections helps them to identify these risks with accuracy and in good time. However, it should be stressed that rushing is never the answer; be it racking inspections or lifting, rushed work is what leads to mistakes.

At Storage Equipment Experts, we offer both the best warehouse racking inspection training and the best warehouse racking inspection checklist in the UK. Don’t just take our word for it, though: check out our racking inspection testimonials page to see why we’re the best.

Book a SEMA approved warehouse racking inspection, alongside warehouse racking inspection training for your staff, to make sure that every aspect of working in your warehouse is as safe as possible.