Does HSA Recommend SEMA Racking Inspections?

We deliver SEMA racking inspections to businesses in Ireland.

Though it never mentions SEMA racking inspections specifically, Ireland’s Health and Safety Authority does indirectly recommend SEMA racking inspections. To understand how this is the case, it’s important to look closely at HSA’s advice.

HSA and Legislation

HSA’s website contains a list of all the legislation which pertains to health and safety in Ireland. It doesn’t have all the legislation in full on the website, but the most important piece of legislation is there: the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005. This cornerstone act addresses many issues, but it doesn’t mention SEMA racking inspections or warehouse safety specifically. It does, however, refer to the EU law which HSA is obliged to follow.

The EU’s guide on Steel Static Storage Systems recommends racking inspections from experts and competent staff at least once a year. Because Ireland is a member of the EU, Irish businesses are expected to follow this advice. However, the guide does not outline exactly what the EU means by “experts” and what qualifies as “competent” staff. This leaves many Irish businesses at a bit of loss.

Are SEMA Approved Racking Inspectors “Experts”?

England’s own health and safety board, HSE, claims that they are. In its guide to warehouse safety, HSE cites SEMA racking inspections by SEMA approved racking inspectors.

It’s true that HSE is the health and safety body for the UK, so its advice doesn’t necessarily have to be followed by Irish businesses. However, when it comes to warehouse safety, HSA itself refers to HSE’s advice. On its page addressing warehouse safety, HSA directs readers to the exact HSE guide which labels SEMA approved racking inspectors as experts.

So, Does HSA Label SEMA Approved Racking Inspectors “Experts”?

Irish businesses need racking inspections from a expert at least once a year in order to follow the EU’s advice. In the absence of other advice or indication as to who qualifies as a racking inspection expert, it’s fair to assume that HSA would consider SEMA approved racking inspectors experts.

In short, the advice from HSA is not very clear. However, when HSA’s advice is taken in combination with the EU’s advice, it becomes clear that SEMA approved racking inspectors do qualify as racking inspection experts and that all Irish warehouses should have a SEMA racking inspection at least once a year.

A Few More Reasons Irish Businesses Need SEMA Racking Inspections…

At Storage Equipment Experts, we offer SEMA racking inspections from a SEMA approved racking inspector. In other words, we offer “expert” inspections from an “expert” inspector. However, alongside this, there are a few other reasons why Irish warehouses should have SEMA racking inspections from us:

As of 2017, both Ireland and the UK are still members of the EU. Even when the UK does leave the EU, its EU-influenced racking inspection legislation will likely not change. This means that the laws regarding warehouse safety are very similar in both countries.
Both countries use similar pallet racking systems and have many other similar laws and cultural norms when it comes to safety. As a result, the warehouses and the racking systems are often the same.
Ireland is extremely accessible from the UK and vice-versa. At Storage Equipment Experts, we offer UK-wide coverage and are more than happy conduct an inspection in Ireland, too.
We also offer racking inspection training from a SEMA approved racking inspector for businesses that want their staff to be “competent” enough to perform the regular staff-led racking inspections that the EU and the HSE warehouse safety guide referenced by HSA both recommend.

If you’re still undecided about whether or not expert racking inspection services from Storage Equipment Experts are right for you, take a look at our testimonials page.

No matter where your business is in the UK or Ireland.
Contact Storage Equipment Experts for an expert SEMA racking inspection today. From our base in London, we’re happy to inspect warehouses anywhere in the UK or Ireland.

Rack Safety Inspections in Ireland: What Does The Law Say?

We offer rack safety inspections to Irish businesses as well as British ones.

When it comes to health and safety, Irish law is made up of two parts: the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) and EU health and safety law. It is these two bodies that decide the laws concerning rack safety inspections in Ireland.

What is the HSA?

The HSA is the governing body for all things health and safety in Ireland. In that sense, it is like OSHA in the United States of America or HSE in the United Kingdom. Relative to OSHA and HSE, however, it was formed quite recently. OSHA was formed first in 1970, HSE was formed a few years later in 1974, but it wasn’t until 1989 that the HSA was formed.

What this means is that many of the health and safety rules and regulations which affect Irish workplaces are new. This is also true for warehouse safety and rack safety inspections, specifically. The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, which forms the basis for almost all Irish workplace safety law, was passed in 2005 and was updated as recently as July 2016.

The act is general. It refers to “inspectors” and “inspections” many times, but it does not use the word “warehouse” or “racking” once. The act is intended to apply to health and safety as a whole and outlines the legal responsibilities of different workplace roles. In this sense, it is like the UK’s CDM Regulations 2015. In fact, just as with the CDM Regulations, the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act needs to be read with reference to other legislation to understand the law and government recommendations regarding rack safety inspections.

The HSA’s Relationship With the EU and HSE

EU health and safety law affects Irish health and safety law directly; many EU health and safety acts are referenced in the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act. Added to this, there is the influence of HSE which, despite operating in the UK, is still referenced by HSA. In the HSA’s brief guide to warehouse safety, it refers to HSE’s Warehousing and storage: A guide to health and safety as a resource that Irish businesses should use.

Both HSE and the EU have recommendations and legislation regarding rack safety inspections. So, though HSA doesn’t have anything specific to say regarding rack inspections, it refers to two bodies (and has laws based on one of those bodies) that do have specific rack inspection recommendations.
In the HSE guide which HSA refers to, the advice is that all businesses should have a rack safety inspection from an “expert” at least once a year. It identifies SEMA approved racking inspectors by name as an example of a racking inspection expert. At Storage Equipment Experts, we offer rack safety inspections from a SEMA approved racking inspector.

The same guide also recommends more regular inspections from “technically competent” staff. For this, we recommend our racking inspection training course, which is performed by a SEMA approved racking inspector.

The EU health and safety legislation which HSA refers to also has recommendations for racking inspections. It too states that racking inspections should be performed at least annually by an external expert, as well as by technically competent staff. As a member of the EU, this advice applies to Ireland. As a member of the EU at the time when this legislation was written, it also applies to the UK (and there is no real reason why this racking inspection legislation in the UK would change when it leaves the EU).

What Does All This Mean for Rack Safety Inspections in Ireland?

In short, all businesses in Ireland should have regular racking inspections. Businesses that don’t perform regular racking inspections are running contrary to the Irish government’s advice. Though HSA does not mention racking inspections themselves, it does mention the advice of both HSE and the EU: two bodies that do recommend racking inspections.

As a member of the EU, Ireland and its businesses are bound by the racking inspection legislation and the recommendations it makes. As a country which refers to HSE on matters of warehouse safety, Ireland and Irish businesses should heed HSE’s advice about annual inspections from a SEMA approved racking inspector.

If you’re an Irish business looking for racking inspection training or racking inspection by a SEMA approved inspector, look no further than Storage Equipment Experts. Our services are recommended by big and small businesses from every imaginable industry.

3 Unexpected Pallet Racking Dangers and How to Avoid Them

If you don’t get your pallet racking inspection frequency right, you could fall victim to some of these lesser-known dangers.

HSE’s stance on racking inspection frequency is that every warehouse should have at least one inspection from an expert, such as a SEMA approved racking inspector, once a year and that regular racking inspections should be performed by “technically competent” staff. HSE outlines this advice its guide to warehouse health and safety, which we recommend that all warehouse owners read in full. Not following this advice, or not fully understanding it, can lead to some racking dangers that you may not have even thought of.

Floor Safety: More Than Slips, Trips, And Falls

When most people think of floor safety, they think of yellow foldaway plastic signs saying “WET FLOOR” and gritted walkways. This kind of floor safety is important and it’s the subject of HSE’s INDG2255 “Preventing Slips and Trips at Work: A Brief Guide”.

However, with regards to storage systems, whether that’s pallet racking or cantilever racking, there are two other major kinds of floor-related danger. Firstly, there are uneven floors. HSE recommends that racking is installed on even flooring. Otherwise, the racking will be unbalanced even when there is no load. Secondly, there are weak floors. We don’t typically think of floors as “weak”, especially those on the ground floor. However, it’s worth finding out what the maximum weight your floors can take is, how you can strengthen them, and where particular weaknesses in your floor might be. Your racking system might be able to handle a certain amount of weight but, if your floor can’t, you’re in a huge amount of danger.

Knowing exactly how and where to install your racking can be difficult for those without proper experience; this is why HSE recommends that it is done by “competent people”. It then recommends installation training from the Storage Equipment Installers Registration Scheme (SEIRS), who are overseen by SEMA. Much like with racking inspection training and racking inspection frequency, HSE has its recommendations, but it is ultimately the warehouse owner’s decision to follow or not follow those recommendations.

In fact, this brings us to an important legal change that occurred with regards to HSE in 2015. It highlights yet another racking danger that the average employer might not be aware of.

Technically Competent and The 2015 CDM Regulations

“Competent” is a word HSE likes to use a lot in its guide to warehouse safety, and it’s a word which is intentionally vague. This because, since the introduction of the updated CDM regulations in 2015, it is ultimately the warehouse owner’s responsibility (the “client”) to maintain safety in their warehouse. In other words, a “competent” person is whoever a warehouse owner thinks a competent person is.

That said, HSE has its recommendations and, if the worst should happen and a warehouse owner was found flouting these recommendations, then that warehouse owner (that “client”) could be held legally responsible.

This change replaces HSE’s old system of enforcing its recommendations with inspectors. Moreover, according to Tony Mitchell from HSE, the previous system allowed anyone with a card to call themselves an “expert” or “technically competent” and, by the time the regulations were introduced, there were over 300 of these “card schemes”.

Nowadays, there is no enforcement and there are no cards. There are only HSE’s recommendations and the people who a client believes are “technically competent” or an “expert”. If an accident or a fatality happens and the recommendations weren’t followed, then there would be legal action. What is more, the client responsible for the accident would be expected to defend the “technically competent” people or “experts” who worked in their warehouse.

This change can be difficult to understand because it doesn’t change any of HSE’s advice. In fact, upon learning about the new CDM regulations, most employers will continue to act in the same way. However, the unexpected danger that this brings with it is that a warehouse owner may have a very lax definition of “expert” or “technically competent”.

This reason, we recommend following HSE’s advice as closely as possible. For example, HSE recommends internal racking inspections by a “technically competent” person. For this, consider racking inspection training from a SEMA approved racking inspector — an inspector which HSE labels an “expert” — in order to give your staff the technical competence they need.

Racking Inspection Frequency and Bad Lighting

Bad lighting is a much bigger problem for workplaces than most realise. Badly placed lighting fixtures can be troublesome for racking systems in particular for two reasons.

They could be physically blocking the racking
They do not light the racking system well enough

Avoiding the former danger is simply a matter of moving the lighting far enough away from the racking system or installing the racking system so that this is not an issue. Avoiding the latter danger can be slightly more difficult.

The correct racking inspection frequency for internal, staff-permed racking inspections is up to the warehouse owner. However, with bad lighting, it won’t matter how high this racking inspection frequency is. An expert racking inspector, such as a SEMA approved racking inspector, knows exactly what to look for and where to find it. However, your staff will not be experienced enough to know if your racking is damaged under bad lighting — no matter how many times they inspect it.

To make your warehouse safer, you need to make sure that every part of your warehouse is well lit. This can be difficult and, as objects move around the warehouse and light bulbs fade, it changes. Still, as with all safety precautions, keeping your warehouse well-lit is a constant process.

Make sure that your warehouse avoids these unexpected dangers with a racking inspection by a SEMA approved inspector from SEE.

Making Warehouses Safe For Art Installations

A pallet racking safety checklist isn’t the most artistic thing in the world, but it’s an essential part of any art installation that uses racking.

Art captures the public’s imagination because of the way it is so entirely separate from the rest of our lives. As a result, a safe art installation, or a safe art performance, can sound like something of a contradiction. However, the Oakland Ghost Ship fire is sad and tragic reminder that art installations and art performances in warehouses do need to be safe. Art might be the essence of life, but warehouse safety is a literally a matter of life and death.

A Pallet Racking Safety Checklist Is Informative, Not Restrictive

The best artists fall completely in love with their medium and their subject matter. Jackson Pollock may have been criticised for producing work that a four-year-old could do, but the man loved paint and knew a lot about it. So, just as a painter should know everything there is to know about paint, so too should an artist who is making a warehouse installation know everything there is to know about warehouses.

This includes gaining knowledge of pallet racking systems through studying a pallet racking safety checklist. By knowing the constituent parts of a pallet racking system and how to use one safely, an artist can learn what can be done with pallet racking, what can’t be done, and why. Knowledge of their medium is precisely why the best artists can do such amazing things. Banksy didn’t become one of the most famous graffiti artists in the world by accident; you can bet that they know an awful lot about spray paint.

Our Pallet Racking Safety Checklist is Completely FREE!

The basics of safety should be free, and that’s what our pallet racking safety checklist is. We do strongly recommend that the people using it have also taken our racking inspection training course, but there is absolutely no obligation to do so.

Other Things to Consider…

A pallet racking inspection checklist is important, but there are several other things to bear in mind for complete warehouse safety for art installations. HSE offers a comprehensive guide to warehouse safety, which is also free in PDF form, which we would recommend that all artists refer to for any element of their art installation.

We would also recommend a racking inspection by a SEMA approved inspector for any racking installed in the exhibition. If you’re not installing racking, consider what you are installing and look into who would be most qualified to inspect it. This can be difficult for artists. After all, the point of many installations to push boundaries and defy definition, but you can never be too safe.

Go through all of your installation plans with as many safety experts as possible. Their suggestions might even act as inspiration. Remember, the aim isn’t to ruin your vision, but to make it safer. You want people attending your exhibition or performance to enjoy themselves, and a huge part of that is being safe.

Look to the Architects!

Safety and artistic expression can live together in harmony and architecture is a perfect example of that. Architecture is an industry which combines safe designs with beautiful designs to create beguiling buildings that are astonishing to look at but could also survive an earthquake.

Some of the most beautiful buildings in the world are also the safest, and the reason for this is that architects are the sort of artists who embrace the science and technology that goes into building. The same should be true of any artist using a warehouse for an installation.

Rather than seeing the warehouse and the safety precautions surrounding it as something holding you back, embrace it. Get to know exactly what makes a warehouse safe, get to know the science behind cantilever racking and pallet racking, and make the greatest and safest art installation there is.

Whether it’s for an art installation or anything else, contact Industrial Storage Equipment Experts for racking inspections services from the best SEMA approved racking inspector in the UK.

Racking Inspection Training & The Oakland Ghost Ship Fire

The Oakland Ghost Ship fire was a tragic event which should serve to remind all warehouse owners about the duty they have to keep people safe in their buildings.

The Oakland Ghost Ship fire was an awful event. 36 people lost their lives in the deadliest fire in the California city’s history. The tragedy underscores the importance of warehouse safety. This doesn’t just mean racking inspections training; it means a holistic approach to warehouse safety and to safety in general.

Would A Greater Racking Inspection Frequency Have Prevented the Tragedy?

As of February 2017, the investigation is still ongoing, so it is impossible to say what exactly caused the fire and who is ultimately responsible. However, what we do know is that the warehouse had not been inspected in three decades. As a warehouse converted for the purposes of art installation and artistic performances, racking inspections might not have been legally required. This is because, in the US, racking inspection frequency is not laid out by OSHA, and much of it is left to the warehouse owner’s discretion.

OSHA’s handbook on warehouse safety mentions racking inspections, but it does not state how often they should happen or even who should perform them. This vagueness was noted by journalist Travis Rhoden, who pointed out that while rack safety might seem pretty simple to the uninitiated, “it’s actually the source of much confusion among safety professionals — largely because there isn’t a clear-cut OSHA standard to help employers with many of the practical aspects of racking safety.”

It’s also unclear whether greater racking inspection frequency would have helped to stop the fire, as there are many other elements of a warehouse which also need to be inspected and maintained. Over the course of the last thirty years, they evidently were not.

Why Is Racking Inspection Training So Important?

Racking inspection training might not have stopped this tragedy, but there are other tragedies which could have been stopped by racking inspection training and a greater racking inspection frequency.

Our racking inspection training course is designed to make sure that racking collapses and other warehouse disasters don’t happen. An expert racking inspection at least once a year is extremely important but, for the day-to-day, warehouse owners need internal staff to inspect the warehouse and storage systems, too. HSE is clear on its recommendations about this, but it doesn’t define how often is enough for these internal, staff-performed racking inspections. The Canadian government is clearer on this front, recommending once a day.

OSHA’s vagueness might be frustrating for American warehouse owners, and HSE’s vagueness might be frustrating for British warehouse owners. However, you can never be too safe when it comes to warehouses. As a result, following Canada’s advice in the absence of advice from HSE or OSHA is a perfectly sensible thing to do. Listening to advice from around the world, while still sticking to the law laid out in your particular country, is the best way to achieve the optimum racking inspection frequency.

Would Complete Warehouse Safety Prevent All Accidents?

This is a matter of some debate. While SEMA president Matt Grierson believes in the possibility of a zero-accident workplace, the EU’s official health and safety board see the zero-accident workplace as “more a way of thinking rather than a numerical goal”.

At Storage Equipment Experts, we do believe in a zero-accident workplace. We do believe that racking inspection training and racking inspection by a SEMA approved inspector are the best tools we have for making warehouses as safe as they possibly can be right now. However, to achieve a zero-accident future much more needs to be done.

It’s impossible to say what would have been enough to prevent the Oakland Ghost Ship tragedy. No country has the technology or the ability to create zero-accident warehouses just yet. Still, we can do our best to reduce warehouse fatalities to their lowest possible number in our lifetime.

Make sure that your warehouse is the safest it can be. Contact Industrial Storage Equipment Experts today for the best-quality racking inspection services in the UK.

Pallet racking inspection training

Cantilever Racking Safety

Cantilever racking and pallet racking safe are the cornerstones of any safe warehouse — and the history of cantilever racking is the history of that safety.

Storage Equipment Experts is one of the only racking inspection businesses in the UK to have a SEMA approved pallet racking inspector who has also completed the SEMA cantilevers racking inspection course. As a result, our racking inspection training is second to none. Moreover, it also means that we’re very much interested in the history behind cantilever rackings safety.

Cantilever racking is as old as the modern warehouse, but the technology and the science behind cantilever systems are actually much older. Cantilever racking and cantilever technology is a simple idea: a rigid structure is held in place by one vertical support and the balance of weight protruding either side.

A Cantilever racking, and the history of safety that underpins it dates back to at least the 17th Century.

The Early Days of Cantilever Technology

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the first use of the word “cantilever” was in 1667. As far as we know, this word would have had the same meaning that it does today. After all, cantilever technology is a very specific thing and there is nothing to suggest the meaning of this word changed over time.

The earliest known use of cantilever technology to build a bridge was in 1890 in Scotland. The Forth Bridge, once the longest cantilever bridge in the world, is still standing and is an excellent example of cantilever technology in use. In true Victorian style, there are some excellent images of Benjamin Baker using a human cantilever bridge to demonstrate how his cantilever principle would help to build a bridge.

The Rise of Cantilever Racking Systems

With the rise of warehouses during the Industrial Revolution, storage technology became more advanced, as businesses needed to store ever more elaborate items in ever greater quantities. In came cantilever racking. With its ability to store longer and more bulky materials in a much simpler way, cantilever racking gave warehouse owners another option.

However, as cantilever racking became more popular, warehouse safety and rack safety needed to account for this new technology. This is where SEMA and Storage Equipment Experts come in.

Racking Inspection Training for Cantilever Racking Systems

The SEMA Cantilever Rack Safety Awareness Course was first introduced in 2015. The course is designed to give SEMA approved racking inspectors the knowledge and the training they need to be able to inspect cantilever racking, as well as pallet racking. As of 2017, Storage Equipment Experts’ SEMA approved racking inspector (SARI) is one of the only SARIs in the UK to have completed the SEMA Cantilever Rack Safety Awareness Course, as well as the SEMA Approved Inspector Qualification.

It is for this reason that our racking inspection services (which include our much-praised racking inspection training course, along with expert inspections from a SEMA approved racking inspector) are such great value for money and so well received.

So, for racking inspection services that have the knowledge of racking inspection history behind them, contact Storage Equipment Experts. Our racking inspection services also include a f ree pallet racking safety checklist. We believe in passing on our knowledge whenever we can. Our checklist is a great start, a great way to learn about the basics of racking safety, but if you want more detail or if you want to learn about cantilever racking safety, we would recommend our racking inspection training course as well.

For complete peace of mind when it comes to racking safety, contact Storage Equipment Experts today for an expert racking inspection, racking inspection training, or a free pallet racking safety checklist.

What HSE Thinks Your Warehouse Should Do About Cold and Flu?

As the British winter rolls on, it’s worth asking what you can do about sniffly noses and sneezes at your warehouse.

Racking systems can be dangerous things to operate. They are huge metal structures that require expert installation, maintenance and inspection from a SEMA approved racking inspector. To work safely in a warehouse, you need to be at peak physical health, so what should you do if you are your staff are struck with the cold or flu?

Just as they do with rack safety inspections, HSE and the UK government have some actionable and practical advice about what you and your staff should do when cold and flu strike.

1. Use Common Sense

It’s strange when the government’s advice “to adopt a common sense approach”, but that is exactly its advice when it comes to the flu. As a result, most of what the government and HSE have to say about preventing cold and flu in the workplace will be things that a sensible person already knows to do. Even still, it’s worth reading up on it anyway.

2. Advise Sick Employees to Stay at Home

Don’t be a martyr and don’t be a hero. If your employees are feeling unwell, advise them to stay at home. If you are feeling unwell, you should stay at home, too. The NHS states that a cold can bring people down for seven days or more. Though the symptoms of the flu are much worse, it also usually goes within a week. If your staff need to take a week off because of a cold or the flu, the path of least resistance is to let them.

Losing that manpower might be detrimental to your warehouse in the short term but, in the long term, the cold or flu is less likely to spread. This will also save you time and money.

3. Leave the Rack Safety Inspections to Someone Else

Even if you feel like you’ve completely recovered from a cold or flu, it’s worth taking it easy when you come back into work. A key part of that would be to avoid heavy lifting, to start slow and to avoid any task where you need to be at your very best.

Rack safety inspections are exactly the sort of thing that, on your first day back, you should let another member of staff carry out. HSE’s stance on racking inspection frequency is that an expert rack safety inspection should be performed at least once a year by a SEMA approved racking inspector. Between these yearly inspections, there should be more regular pallet racking inspections by “technically competent” staff.

“Technically competent” usually refers to the amount of knowledge your staff has about racking inspections. To reach that level of competence, we would recommend rack safety inspection training. However, we would also recommend that staff who have been ill should not perform this sort of task. Research shows that, even after you’ve recovered from the physical effects of a cold or flu, your reaction time and other brain functions can remain impaired.

With that in mind, it’s worth giving more than one member of staff racking inspection training. In the UK, the exact frequency of internal rack safety inspections is left to the discretion of the PRRS (Person Responsible for Racking Safety). However, in Canada, the government recommends daily racking inspections from staff.

Whatever racking inspection frequency your PRRS decides on, it’s worth having several people (possibly even all of your staff) trained on racking safety inspections so that you are able to deal with days off from illnesses.

Make sure your workforce knows what to do when cold or flu hits your warehouse — and make sure that enough of your staff have received rack safety inspection training, so you can maintain a safe warehouse all year round. Also, be sure to contact Storage Equipment Experts for a rack safety inspection from a SEMA approved racking inspector.

Video: Health and Safety Tips for a Snowy Winter

Winter can be a snowy time of year across the UK, so here are some essential safety tips from us!

Everyone loves the snow, but nothing dampens people’s love for snow like a workplace accident. You can build snowmen on the weekends but, during the week, consider some of our advice. Of course, rack safety inspections are a must and HSE racking regulations make it clear that you should have at least one SEMA racking inspection a year. Yet, there are also many other things you should look out for.

1. Keep an Eye on the Thermostat

Snow means particularly cold working conditions, especially if you’re in a warehouse. Obviously, this means wrapping up warm and encouraging your employees to do so as well. But more than that, you have a legal responsibility to keep your workplace warm. The law is not black and white about this. Rather, according to Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, employers have a legal responsibility to keep their workplace at a “reasonable” temperature.

HSE suggests that 16 degrees is a decent minimum. However, if the work in question involves rigorous physical effort, then it recommends 13 degrees. Keeping an entire warehouse at one temperature is going to be difficult and that’s why HSE allows employers leeway. However, employers are duty-bound “to determine what reasonable comfort will be in the particular circumstances”. In other words, your employees know that your warehouse might not be the warmest place in the world, but it’s your duty to try and make things as warm as possible.

2. Slips, Trips, and Falls.

You may think of slips, trips, and falls as things that “just happen”, but HSE and the law do not agree with you. HSE strongly believes that slips, trips and falls can be prevented and, as such, you are legally required to do a number of things. All of this is especially important during a snowy winter when icy floors can make things much more dangerous.

Firstly, you have a legal duty to control slip and trip risks “as far as is reasonably practicable” according to the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSW Act). Your employees also have a duty to not put themselves in danger and to use any safety equipment you may have provided for them. Secondly, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require you assess all risks (and this includes risks relating to slips, trips, and falls) and, “where necessary, take action to address them.” Finally, according to the Workplace (Health, Safety, and Welfare) Regulations 1992, you need to keep floors in a good condition and free from obstacles or obstruction. Your employees should be able to move around freely.

That’s what the law says, but what should you actually do? Well, as far as possible, HSE recommends making sure that ice doesn’t form on your workplace floors by keeping an eye on the temperature (as mentioned before). If ice does form, HSE recommends the use of grit, arbours to cover walkways and warning cones to divert people from the ice. Be sure to put the warning cones away once the danger is gone. Otherwise, as HSE points out, your employees will learn to ignore warning cones.

Be sure to use grit properly; don’t just throw it down and hope for the best. Also remember that, while grit may melt ice, it does nothing for damp floors. For that, you need more cones and signs to divert people, as well as something to dry up the wet floor if possible. On top of all this, decent lighting is vital. Without lots of light, it’s hard for people to judge whether a floor is wet, dry, icy, or just shiny.

3. Rack Safety Inspections

We mentioned earlier that HSE recommends a SEMA racking inspection at least once a year, but there are a number or reasons why rack safety inspections are especially important during the snowy winter months.

As temperatures hit their yearly low, steel and other metals are much more likely to reach their ductile to brittle transition temperature (DBTT). This is when a metal becomes so cold that it turns brittle, rather than ductile, and winds up snapping instead of bending. For racking systems, this type of damage could lead to fatal accidents, so it’s vital to keep an eye on it during the winter.

According to the University of New South Wales in Australia, “for some steels, the transition temperature can be around 0°C”. This means that, if your warehouse has ice on the floor, it’s possible that the steel in your warehouse is turning brittle and is already significantly weaker than it would be at a warmer temperature. It is yet another reason to keep an eye on the temperature in your warehouse and yet another reason to make sure that you have a racking inspection by a SEMA approved inspector.

Be sure to keep your warehouse warm and to have rack safety inspection this winter from a SEMA approved racking inspector.

Racking Inspection Services & Other Tips for Workplace Safety in 2017

2017 has well and truly begun, so here are some top safety tips for this year.

Each new year brings its own set of challenges, and each new challenge brings its own set of dangers. That’s why we here at Storage Equipment Experts are here to give our top safety tips for the year ahead. Alongside our well-reviewed racking inspection services (which include racking inspection training and racking inspections from a SEMA approved racking inspector), there are a couple of other handy tips that we’d like to give out.

We do this because we’re passionate about safety, because we’re passionate about what we do, and because we’re passionate about businesses having a safe 2017.

Write a Health and Safety Policy for Your New Business

A new year might mean a new business venture, but as journalist David Wolinsky discovered, many new businesses don’t even realise that their startup needs a health and safety policy. When a business is small and just getting off the ground, it can be tough to consider the many, many things you need to do. However, this does not get easier. Doing many, many things is what running a company is all about: it’s called business.

With any joy, your business will grow. However, as things get faster and busier, accidents are more likely to happen. That’s why writing a health and safety policy in those early stages is vital. Writing it later on, means that you’re not only running counter to HSE’s advice, but it also means you’ll be trying to implement a health and safety policy in a business where everybody already has a set way of doing things.

By introducing your health and safety policy first, and by making it one of the first things you do in your startup, you are laying a safe foundation for all work performed afterwards. You won’t need to worry about trying to make an unsafe way of doing things safer. Instead, your way of doing things will be safe from the ground up.

Don’t Get Complacent

2016 may have been a great year for your business, and congratulations if it was. However, 2017 is not the year to get complacent. It’s never been the year to get complacent and it never will be, because complacency is what kills businesses.

Nowhere is this truer than with safety. When a business relaxes its attitude towards health and safety, that’s when accidents happen. Rather than using the successes of the last year as an excuse to relax, use them as a motivation to keep pushing forward. Last year was successful because of high standards and a relentless attitude towards improving health and safety. If this year is going to be the same, then relaxing is not the way to go.

Racking Inspection Services from Storage Equipment Experts

We offer three different kinds of racking inspection services, all of which are designed to help businesses to be safer and better.

A FREE Racking Inspection Checklist

Our racking inspection checklist remains an extremely popular racking inspection service and that’s probably because it’s so reasonably priced at £0.00. Yes, it’s free! It was written by our SEMA approved racking inspector and systematically lists which parts of a pallet rack need to be inspected. However, before using our racking inspection checklist, we recommend our pallet racking inspection training (which is run by a SEMA approved racking inspector).

Pallet Racking Inspection Training

While pallet racking inspection training is not a legal requirement (for using our checklist or for inspecting racking), we do recommend it. This is because HSE states that the regular staff inspections should be performed by someone who is “technically competent”. We believe that the best way to ensure this kind of competence is through training from a certified expert — and HSE labels SEMA approved racking inspectors as “experts”.

Racking Inspections by SEMA Approved Inspectors

Performed by the best SEMA approved racking inspector (SARI) in the country and one of the only SARIs to have also passed SEMA’s cantilever racking course, our SARI delivers racking inspections to anywhere in the UK. From our base in London, we at Storage Equipment Experts are well connected to the rest of the country. Remember that HSE also recommends a racking inspection by a SEMA approved inspector at least once a year. So what better way to get 2017 off to a good start than with a visit from us?

Contact Storage Equipment Experts today for the best racking inspection services in the UK!

Pallet Racking Safety Checklists and The Heinz #CanSong

a man and a woman performing a racking inspection

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) criticised Heinz’s #CanSong ad campaign for encouraging a lack of safety. So what can Heinz learn from pallet racking safety checklists?

Heinz’s #CanSong rang hollow with the ASA after the latter complained that the well-known baked beans company were encouraging “behaviour that could be dangerous for children to emulate” in their recent advert. The advert depicted a lot of different people using used Heinz cans and their hands to create a song. The advert even began with instructions which included taping the top of the can to avoid cutting your fingers.

Evidently, though, this recommendation was not enough to quell the ASA, who warned Heinz “to ensure that future ads did not condone or encourage behaviour that prejudiced health and safety”.

Who Are the ASA? How Can an Advert Be “Unsafe”?

While taping the edges of the can was not enough of a safety recommendation for the ASA, the real question is how and why the ASA is able to call adverts out on their levels of safety.

Firstly, the ASA is not a government organisation; it is an independent body. This independent body, however, does have the power to ban adverts, and there are good reasons for both why the ASA is an independent body and why it has the power to ban adverts.

With regards to the former, the ASA being independent means that, in theory, it is not in the pocket of any big businesses. As a result, it can make rulings against large companies (such as Heinz) without fearing repercussions. In fact, according to its own assessment, companies are happy to take on board the ASA’s recommendations, though political campaigns are another story.

So the ASA is an independent body which regulates commercial advertisements but not political ones. But why should it have the power to ban adverts? And why is it banning adverts based on health and safety concerns?

70% of the complaints that the ASA deals with are about false advertising. When a company offers a product or service at a certain price and then sell it to you a different price, they are probably breaking the law and that’s where the ASA steps in. 30% of the complaints the ASA deals with are about harm. This is why the Heinz advert got canned.

Heinz and Pallet Racking Safety Checklists

Whether or not the ASA was right to ban Heinz’s advert is a matter of debate. However, what the issue highlights is how careful businesses need to be when they hand out advice, lest that advice injures people.

Nowhere is this truer than with pallet racking safety checklists. After all, getting your finger cut on a can because of a song from an advert is one thing. Being involved in a warehouse racking collapse that happened because of a faulty racking inspection is quite another.

That’s why the quality of a racking inspection checklist is so important. If you’re told that your pallet racking safety checklist is written by an expert, then it absolutely should be. This brings us back to why the ASA is so important and why the Heinz ruling, though it may have been silly, highlights what the ASA is there for.

The ASA Means Racking Inspection Checklists You Can Trust

Thanks to the ASA, when we say that our pallet racking safety checklist is written by a SEMA approved racking inspector, you can rest assured that we’re telling the truth. The quality of our racking inspection checklist template is also under similar scrutiny, as well it should be. We are confident that, when combined with our racking inspection training, our checklist can be used to safely and accurately perform the kind of regular racking inspections that HSE recommends in its guide to warehouse safety.

We and HSE also recommend a racking inspection by a SEMA approved racking inspector at least once a year from an outside expert. This is because, as much confidence as we have in our racking inspection training and our racking inspection form, we also respect HSE’s advice. Two sets of eyes are often better than one, and an outsider is necessary to spot the dangers that you might have otherwise missed.

The ASA is there to make sure that the safety advice we offer (whether that’s through promotions of our product, for free on this blog, or as part of our racking inspection services) is up to scratch. We are confident that it is, and so are our happy customers.

Download the racking inspection checklist PDF right now from Storage Equipment Experts for free!