Top 6 Pallet Racking Technology Future Trends

If you have pallet racking in London, pallet racking in the South East, or pallet racking anywhere in the UK or Ireland, Storage Equipment Experts can deliver racking inspections from SEMA approved inspectors and racking inspection training for your business.

Whether it’s AR pallet racking, Esmena pallet racking, or any other kind of warehouse storage racking system, Storage Equipment Experts are there to deliver racking inspections and racking inspection training from a SEMA approved racking inspector. We are experts in all kinds of storage equipment. After all, it’s in our name.

We have performed hundreds of inspections on pallet racking in London and pallet racking in the South East. However, we’re also happy to travel anywhere in the UK or Ireland.

We Know All There is About Pallet Racking in London

Pallet racking in London can be found all over the city and the whole of the capital is dependant on its safety. From factories, to storage facilities, to art spaces and everything in between, London is a city bustling with business and, as a result, London is a city filled with warehouses.

All of those warehouses mean different types of storage equipment. Fortunately, we at Storage Equipment Experts know all there is to know about inspecting Schaefer racking, PSS racking, Dexion racking, Link 51 racking, Mecalux racking, Redirack racking, Apex racking, Polypal racking and much more. Our SEMA approved racking inspector also has experience inspecting racking at many different kinds of businesses across London — from the Tate Modern to Pinewood Studios.

SEE Performs the Best Inspections of Pallet Racking in London, the South East, or Anywhere in the UK or Ireland

We offer the best racking inspections by SEMA Approved inspectors in the UK or Ireland. We say that because, as well as being one of just over 100 SEMA approved pallet racking inspectors, our racking inspection expert at Storage Equipment is one of only 34 SEMA approved racking inspectors to have passed the cantilever racking inspection course run by SEMA.

So whether it’s pallet racking in London, cantilever racking in London, or any kind of storage system anywhere in the UK or Ireland, be sure to contact us.

We can also confidently state that we offer the best pallet racking inspection training for pallet racking in London or anywhere else. Our knowledge of AR pallet racking, Esmena pallet racking, or any other kind of pallet racking system is second to none. That’s why we’ve written over 100,000 words on pallet racking maintenance and pallet racking safety.

Our training can be delivered from our base in London or from your business anywhere in the UK or Ireland. We are happy to travel for our customers, so contact us to get a quote on our pallet racking inspection training course.

What is more, Storage Equipment Experts offers the best pallet racking inspection checklist in the UK or Ireland, for FREE, alongside an infographic explaining exactly how it works. From all this, it’s easy to see why we are renowned for offering the best pallet racking inspections in London or anywhere in the UK or Ireland.

Warehouse Pallet Racking in London

As London’s population expands and the city continues to attract billions of pounds worth of tourism, it’s good to know that the city can depend on a reliable racking inspection expert to ensure its warehouses are up to scratch. After all, safe warehouses are more than places of business themselves (in the case of art spaces or storage facilities); they are often the backbone of many other London businesses.

Without a London-based supplier with a London-based warehouse, London would simply not be able to sell as much as it does to its millions of consumers. As the foremost pallet racking experts in London, the businesses of the city can relax knowing that its supply chain is being inspected by a SEMA approved racking inspector, as per HSE guidelines.

Warehouse Pallet Racking in London, the South East and Everywhere Else in the UK and Ireland

Storage Equipment Experts Head Office is based in London — in the heart of the South East — but with SEMA Approved Racking Inspectors located around the UK we are able and willing to travel all over the United Kingdom and Ireland to deliver pallet racking inspections. We have happy customers from Manchester to Scotland and from Somerset to Ireland.

Contact us today for the best inspections for pallet racking in London from the UK and Ireland’s best SEMA approved racking inspector.

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 pallet 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 pallet racking 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.

1. They could be physically blocking the racking
2. 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 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.

Warehouse avoids these unexpected pallet racking dangers with a racking inspection by a SEMA approved inspector from SEE.

Businesses of All Sizes, From All Over the World, Can Benefit From Knowing a Bit More About Pallet Racking Safety.

Pallet racking is a big asset to any business, but it’s also a big responsibility. Pallet racks are large structures that, when not used properly, are cumbersome at best and dangerous at worst. A warehouse that uses pallet racking well can operate with an efficiency to make any competitor jealous. Though laws about pallet racking safety may differ around the world, the key ideas remain the same. That’s why we at Storage Equipment Experts have created this infographic.

Pallet Racking Safety and Racking Inspection Training

Our knowledge of pallet racking comes from the wisdom accrued from years of being on the front line of the racking industry. We’re always keen to share our knowledge, and that’s why we offer rack inspection training delivered by rack inspection experts.

Racking inspection training allows businesses to ensure their pallet racking is inspect by their own staff.

Checking that pallet racking is properly secure, checking that it’s not bent, checking that it’s not damaged, and checking that it’s not overloaded in some way: these thing are not just one skill. They are a series of skills that can be acquired by varying levels of training.

And so while every country recognises the importance of this training, different countries have different attitudes to it. This is why some countries, like the UK and Australia, require that a racking inspection expert from outside your business inspect your pallet racking and other countries, like the US, do not.

The UK and Australia then also differ with how often a racking inspection expert should inspect your pallet racking. Furthermore, the two countries also differ with what constitutes a racking inspection expert in the first place. All of which is why we made this infographic. We want to clear up a lot of the confusion surrounding pallet racking safety.

At its heart, the principles of pallet racking safety are simple. Though they differ from country to country, the core ideas should be the same. In reality, it shouldn’t matter what country you’re operating in. We know this to be true because, despite being performing racking inspections as per HSE’s guidelines, we have offered our insight to American, South African, and Asian publications.

Pallet racking safety can be easily achieved by following the legal guidelines of your own country. Still, knowing about how pallet racking safety works in other countries can help to inform your decisions as well.

Pallet racking is our passion at Storage Equipment Experts. Our desire to inform is why we provide a free racking inspection checklist as well as SEMA-approved racking inspections and rack inspection training. We offer a variety of services because we understand that pallet racking safety is a varied discipline. Pallet racking safety is always a worthwhile investment, and so it’s never a bad time to call or email us!

Contact Storage Equipment Experts for a visit from the racking inspection experts. We aim to provide the best racking inspection training and pallet rack inspections in the UK and we do so by adhering to HSE’s strict standards.

Legal writer and academic Peter Drucker once said, “Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window”. The quote has two morals: the first is that predicting the future is hard, perhaps dangerous, and the second is that to predict the future we need to look at the past or “look out the back window”.

With regards to the modern warehouse and the future of pallet racking, those who wanted to predict the future would have to take note of its role in the Industrial Revolution. If another revolution is on its way, as some generational theorists predict, will the modern warehouse and pallet racking play a part? And what part will it play?

Safe and Sustainable: Pallet Racking Inspections, Racking Inspection Courses, and the Environment

The environment is the key issue of our times, and so the future of warehousing and logistics will need to recognise this. The recent warehouse explosions in Tianjin, China are a sign of what the warehouses of the future will look like if warehouse safety and the environment are ignored in the name of profit. Unsafe production and environmental disaster usually go hand in hand, as the lethal air pollution caused by palm oil production in Indonesia has made clear.

Future warehouses should be ones that invest in sustainable practices. More racking inspection courses and pallet racking inspections will ensure that businesses are safer and are looking to the future. Alongside this, businesses will need to be more environmentally friendly. After all, just as the problems related to workplace safety and the environment go hand in hand, so too do the solutions. As researcher Doug Morrow points out, sustainable business is a multifaceted concept.

Safe and cybersafe: pallet racking inspections, racking inspection courses, and digital technologies

The use of robots and digital technologies to increase the efficiency of warehouses is already happening. Amazon uses countless programs, codes, and machines to do a large amount of the work in its warehouse. This effect will only become more pronounced, and more widespread, in the future. Online shopping has lead to increased demand and increased supply. However, the speed of all of this has come at a cost. Online retail companies like Amazon rely on a system that is literally known as “chaotic storage” and workers have complained about mistreatment and lack of safety.

The future of warehouse use depends on combining the best elements of new technologies with a safe and sustainable business model. Whatever the future warehouse looks like, we at SEMA racking inspections will be there to ensure that it operates as safely and efficiently as possible. Just as pallet racking inspections have been a vital part of our warehouses in the past, pallet racking inspections are a vital part of our warehouses’ future.

Is your warehouse ready for the future? Contact Storage Equipment Experts Ltd today for racking inspection training or a pallet racking inspection from a SEMA approved racking inspector.