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This article outlines three important points to consider when placing pallets on pallet racking. Read on to find out more.
Fire Danger
There are quite a few codes set in motion by governments that are designed to minimise fire danger in a warehouse. This is especially true if your inventory is highly flammable. If you are using wooden or metal beams in your pallet racking, you may also run into the problem of the beams restricting water sprinkler access to potential fires in lower pallet rack levels. This is why wire mesh decking for pallet racks are a great idea, allowing sprinklers to reach all levels of your pallet racking. These are the kinds of issues that are usually picked up during a safety inspection of your facility, but it makes sense to think about these things when you’re designing a pallet racking system for your warehouse. You may also want to consider how high you stack your inventory due to the potential fire hazard of dense storage.
Forklift Safety
When it comes to forklift safety, it really is imperative that you do everything possible to train your operators to a high level. This is because an untrained operator is a liability to everyone on the warehouse floor. They could badly injure or even kill someone or themselves if they are not properly trained. Then there is also the stock to think of. Manoeuvring between aisles of pallet racking in tight places is hard to do, and could easily result in damage to products if not done with proper care and precision. To ensure pallets are placed on pallet racking exactly, operators need a lot of training and practice. They also need to be aware of important OH&S issues, especially when reaching above head height to procure items from pallet racking.
The Right Pallet Racking
A warehouse can often use different kinds of pallet racking to suit different purposes and products. When seeking to unload items onto pallet racking, it is imperative that workers ensure they’re using the right kind of pallet racking for the product they’re dealing with. Various pallet racking systems are designed to be used in a variety of ways – some are first-in-first-out (FIFO), some are last-in-first-out (LIFO), and some are for products that must have a fast turnover, such as pallet flow racking. Again, this all comes down to correctly training your staff so that each product is put in the right place, using the right system.
Conclusion
When placing pallets on pallet racking, there are multiple things to consider. Many of these come from you, the warehouse operator and owner. For instance, there is the necessity of abiding by safety codes for potential fire hazards by choosing pallet racking that allows sprinkler water to access all pallet shelves. The height and density of your pallets may also be restricted by these same regulations. You should check with your local government before installing pallet racking. When it comes to safety, the education level of your forklift drivers is another important point. Are they qualified and trained to drive forklifts safely so as not to cause harm? You need to ensure your workers are trained in the effective and proper use of each pallet racking system you have installed.
