SEMA, the Storage Equipment Manufacturers’ Association, is a private organisation which has been providing guidance on racking safety practices since 1968. It has become the “industry partner and point of reference” for storage safety by the HSE, Local Authorities, RoSPA, the CSCS and manufacturers.
SEMA decided to develop its SEMA Approved Racking Inspector (SARI) scheme in response to HSE guidelines which state that a qualified person should carry out an inspection at least once every 12 months.
The scheme allows professionals, previously from engineering or health and safety backgrounds, to undertake a comprehensive training course detailing the correct rack inspection practices, including the highly acclaimed traffic light system of categorising rack damage, which has been adopted as the industry standard for use throughout the UK and EU.
An intensive training course is completed by a final examination with ongoing top-up sessions and seminars to keep the inspector’s knowledge up to date and in line with current industry standards. These “top ups” are mandatory to retain registration status ensuring confidence that all SARI card holders are at the forefront of racking safety.
If you are using racking of any kind on your premises, then the answer is ‘Yes'.
Due to changes in Health and Safety Legislation (HSG76 Sections 642, 646 & 647), pallet racking is regarded as workplace equipment that requires an inspection at least once a year by a SARI (SEMA Approved Rack Inspector) or other “Technically Competent Person”.
The HSE Executive advise 3 levels of inspection and reporting:
Any failure to adhere to these legislative requirements can have significant ramifications on an organisation which include invalidating insurance, fines of up to £20m and, in some cases, imprisonment.
As the pressures on SMEs continue to grow, we believe that many small and medium sized businesses would benefit from the technical support Acerax are able to provide.
Our inspector will also request permission to use a laser measuring device and camera equipment to record images of any issues for the inspection report. If the inspection is taking place in a very active site, or one with VNA (Very Narrow Aisle) installations, our inspector may also ask for the aisles to be cordoned off during the inspection. However we always do our best to work with our customers to keep any operational disruption to an absolute minimum.
RED indicates the most severe type of damage which means the racking will need to be offloaded immediately and must not be used until the required repairs have been made.
AMBER signifies that damage has occurred, but it is not serious enough for the racking to be offloaded.
GREEN means the racking is only slightly damaged and safe for use.
In addition to assessing any damage, our inspector will also take a broad overview of the standards applied to pallet loading, waste packaging, damaged pallets, general standards of cleanliness, the condition of the floor, lighting, the type of fork trucks being used as well as racking protection both down the aisle and at the rack ends. Images will be taken to record any specific damage, the information on the load boards and any other findings which need to be included in the report.
Contact Acerax today to arrange your next inspection.