If you’re looking for a storage rack safety inspection checklist, look no further
A storage rack safety inspection checklist is a great way to help you or your staff members perform the regular rack inspections which HSE and SEMA recommend. You can download a FREE storage rack safety inspection checklist from Storage Equipment Experts right here:
If you’re wondering what you might need a storage rack inspection checklist for and how to use it, here’s how it works.
Storage Rack Safety Inspection Checklists Should Only Be Used by People Who Have Received Rack Safety Inspection Training
Checklists are a great way of helping people to make sure that their inspections are thorough and accurate, but they need to be used in conjunction with rack safety inspection training. We do not recommend that untrained people use our rack safety inspection checklist to perform inspections.
The reason for this is that untrained staff members will not know what to look for on the checklist. The checklist makes what needs to be inspected clear and easy to understand, but this is only the case if the person using the checklist is trained. Without the training, people won’t know what to look for. This is why workplace training is so important.
What Does a Storage Rack Safety Inspection Checklist Include?
The storage rack safety inspection checklists we provide contain a list of the different parts of a racking system in a graph. This allows you to record if and when each part was inspected and whether any further action was needed after inspection of that part. The checklist mirrors the traffic light system outlined in HSE’s HSG76.
Green means that the part is perfectly fine and no further action is needed at this time.
Amber means that the part is faulty or damaged in some way and this means that the system needs to be offloaded as soon as possible within the next four weeks so that a repair can be performed.
Red means that the part is faulty or damaged to such a degree that the system needs to be immediately offloaded and repaired.
Even a Properly Used Storage Rack Safety Inspection Checklist is not Enough on its Own
As well as regular inspections from trained staff using a rack safety inspection checklist with the traffic light system recommended by HSE’s HSG76, a storage system needs an inspection from a SEMA approved racking inspector (SARI) at least once every 12 months. If you do this, you will be following HSE’s advice on rack safety inspection to the letter and will “usually be doing enough to comply with the law”.
What’s more, according to the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) 1998, there are instances where you may need further inspections — such as when your storage equipment has been moved or damaged.
HSE and SEMA’s attitude to rack safety inspections can seem overwhelming. Inspections are recommended by both experts and staff members and both the frequency and the thoroughness of these inspections needs to be guaranteed by several different checks and balances.
Yet, all of this is done in the name of safety — and it’s working. Since HSE’s inception in 1974, workplace fatalities have fallen by 85% and workplace injuries have fallen by 79%. This sort of success should not be overlooked, especially when people complain of an overreaching health and safety culture.
More needs to be done to reduce workplace fatalities further, and it starts by maintaining the standards we already have through using things like storage rack safety inspection checklists.
To make sure that your staff receives the rack safety inspection training they need to properly use our storage rack safety inspection checklists, contact SEE today for a FREE consultation on your next rack inspection training session.
