HOW SAFE IS YOUR RACK?

Members of the Equipment World Sales and Technical Team have become certified to be Rack Safety Inpectors.

If you have any rack storage systems in your facility, you should read the information below.

Contact an Equipment World Representative for more details and a site analysis.

"Rack Collapse: no more not my problem

'Who installed the racking?' is one of the first questions IAPA consultant Chuck Leon asks when visiting a warehouse or storage facility for the first time. 'Don't know? How about the drawings: can you find them?' Answer no, and you could be in trouble on a number of accounts. Ministry of Labour inspectors won't be happy. Worse, your workplace could be at risk for injuries and property loss.

'If you don't have the paperwork and drawings to show that a racking system was built and installed according to the manufacturers specifications', says Leon, 'you'll need a Pre-Start Health and Safety Review conducted by an engineer. If you have modified a racking system, you'll need an engineers report on the racking system.'

'A lot of people don't realize this', says Leon. 'They think it's a grandfathered thing: The racks were here before I started so I must be exempt. Well, you're not. The law says that the company must take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances to protect workers', notes Leon. 'If a rack collapses, the inspector is going to ask questions. Who installed it? Was it installed by the manufacturer according to the manufacturer's specifications? Do you have drawings of the racking systems?'

One company's experience: A 2003 fatality that resulted from damaged racking in a food warehouse highlights the hidden dangers of damaged or inadequate racking. In August 2003, a shipping/receiving worker was crushed under twisted metal shelving and frozen food when several steel racks suddenly collapsed. Shortly after a roof caved in and a wall buckled outwards. The collapse and cave-in left a huge pile-up of twisted metal and tons of frozen food so that recovering the workers body took three days of concerted efforts by emergency officials and a private contractor. Heavy demolition equipment had to be brought in to remove the debris. The employer, a company with 24 facilities in North America that provide refrigeration storage space for food processors and distributors and retailers, was fined $240,000.

'Don't wait for the inspector!' In the past month, warns Leon, 'I've had six phone calls from clients who received work orders from the Ministry of Labour regarding their racking'. Leon notes that the new CSA Standard A344.2 and CSA User Guide A344.1 provide practical, accessible information specifically targetted to a Canadian audience. 'We never had a standard before, so this is all new to many people."

Article excerpt from IAPA Accident Prevention e-newsletter July 2006 (http://www.iapa.ca/apmag/2006_enews_july.asp#top)

The Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) places duties on many different categories of individuals associated with workplaces, such as employers, constructors, supervisors, owners, suppliers, licensees, officers of a corporation and workers. Under the OHSA, you are required to perform regular workplace inspections. These inspections must include all storage systems within your facility. Inspections should be tailored to meet the requirements as stated by your Health & Safety committee and/or the current frequency of use of these racks. An Ontario employer, who is covered by the Act, has an obligation to: 1) Appoint competent persons as supervisors.

"Competent person' has a very specific meaning under the Act. He or she must: a) be qualified through knowledge, training and experience to organize the work and its performance; b) be familiar with the Act and the regulations that apply to the work being performed in the workplace; c) know about any actual or potential danger to health and safety in the workplace; 2) take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker 3) ensure that every part of the physical structure of the workplace can support all loads to which it may be subjected, in accordance with the Building Code Act and any standards prescribed by the ministry.

On October 7, 2000, Regulation 528/00, which amends section 7 of the Regulation for Industrial Establishments, Regulation 851, became effective in the Province of Ontario.

Under this regulation, employers, owners, and lessees are required to have a Professional Engineer perform a Pre-Start Health and Safety Review (PSR) when installing new pallet racks, stacker racks, drive-in racks, cantilever racks, etc., or modifying existing ones, to ensure their compliance with applicable standards (currently The Rack Manufacturers Institutes (RMI) Specification for the Design, Testing, and Utilization of Industrial Storage Racks). For new racks, a PSR may not be required if the supplier of the racks can provide documentation to support compliance with current standards usually in the form of structural drawings, letters of certification, and/or accompanying capacity charts and tables.

The regulation has now been in effect for several years and enforcement by the Ministry of Labour has commenced.

There have been several racking collapses in Ontario since the new regulation became effective. A recent Ministry of Labour release confirmed that fines have been issued, one as high as $240,000, in conjunction with these collapses for violations of the Health and Safety Act; in part, for non-compliance of the rack systems with RMI specifications.

While responsibility for compliance lies with the employer, owner, or lessee and not the rack vendor, a wise purchaser will give major consideration to the qualifications of potential rack suppliers to give proper advice on the requirements for certification.