.png)
Racks are one of the most important parts of your warehouse. This means you should take measures to ensure that your racks are in good condition and not a danger to your employees or the products they are holding. Here are a few things you should keep an eye out for when you take stock of the condition of your racks.
Improper Lighting. This one problem can lead to a slew of other problems. Bad lighting makes it difficult to see exactly where structures are located and can lead to accidents and injuries. Poor lighting is an easy fix. Simply replace old burnt out or bad bulbs with newer and brighter energy efficient bulbs. Energy efficient bulbs also will not need to be changed as often as any other bulbs.
Improper Row Spacers. Insufficient row spacers in back-to-back pallet racks can cause rows to be unevenly spaced and not straight. This leads to problems with driving forklifts down aisles. Proper row spacers also add stability to racks.
Uneven Aisle Width. Uneven aisle width causes problems when it comes to machinery accessibility and leads to damage to machinery. You should keep you aisles narrow enough to allow maximum storage space, but wide enough to be able to operate machinery.
Overloaded Racks. Overloading is the most common cause of rack failure. In order to keep your racks as safe and stable as possible, do not exceed the manufacturer’s capacity requirements. Not only is overloading racks dangerous to your employees, but it is also damaging to your racks. Be sure to also space your loads evenly to reduce stress on your racks.
Anchor or Foot Plate Damage. Unstable bases lead to instability throughout the whole rack. If you find any damage to an anchor or foot plate, you should call a pallet racking system provider to come repair them as soon as possible.
Damaged Pallets. Damaged pallets are dangerous to both the handler and the load on the pallets. Even when they are not on racks, damaged pallets can be dangerous. This problem is easily remedied by repairing or replacing damaged pallets before they give out and cause problems.
Support Damage. Damage to the braces on a pallet should be repaired immediately as any type of damage will compromise the structural integrity of your rack.
Damaged Beams and Beam Connections. Damaged beams and beam connections are another integral part of a pallet rack which must be repaired immediately as racks become unstable with damaged beams.
Column Damage. If considerable damage can be identified on the frames of the racks, they should be repaired immediately. To prevent further damage from forklifts or other collisions, you can add column protectors to the bottoms of the frames.
