Posted By paul debney We lease part of our massive warehouse out to a sister company, While my company has racking and good health and safety, the company we share our premises with has no racking and uses poor quality pallets. I have started to cover this company for H&S. I inspected their work area yesterday and there was collapsed loads and loads leaning due to the company stacking pallets 3 high and the pallets being poor quality or the boxes that hold their stock being crushed by the stacking. I took photos and expressed my concerns and i will carry out a risk assessment expressing they have racking installed for stock (they do not have the space to stack less than 3 high),their management have hinted that they may move their operations down south to head office if Laws and Statutory Duties are quoted. I dont want to send 20 men to the dole office with my RA. Has anybody ever encountered this scenario?

Posted By bigwhistle That is exceedingly unpleasant make sure you keep full records of your own so that you can prove you have fulfilled your duties. Maybe the HSE could somehow get to hear of the matter via someone on this site?

Posted By David Pike Oh dear..... what a hot potato! What should you do? Well the right thing is always a good start. So is it the potential for the dole office or the coroner's court for an inquest into a workplace fatality? Perhaps you should look at the following information and discuss it with the sister company, at least that way you have gone some way to discharging your duty of care. The company should be working to the SEMA (Storage Equipment Manaufacturers' Association) codes, practices and guidance (or its equivalent.) The following link will help clarify matters for you: http://www.sema.org.uk/ You should look at Guideline No6 Give me a shout if you want some more info, I used to work in a warehousing and logistics company as its regional SE manager so this was my bread and butter. Cheers Dave

Posted By paul debney Thanks for the replies. I am Risk Assessing as a High Risk and recommending racking as control measure to be installed by May, up until then,ssow will be drawn up as regards pallets and stacking. I have took the matter to my directors who are very proactive, they are going to apply the pressure as landlords of the premises.

Posted By Rob T Call their bluff! It would cost them more to relocate than to put up some racking etc. If they do decide to move then call the HSE and tell them the circumstances. I'm sure the HSE would take a dim view of a company with that attitude and may make some even more intrusive inspections of other premises. I presume they've got other cr*p systems in place too.

Posted By steven bentham Paul Sometimes it works to try encourage them to put in place a series of changes over a period of time. As for them holding a gun to your head and putting men on the dole. Easy to answer - its their call. Your jobs to advise (hopefully proactively) You could 'grass' them up but they will work out who's done it and the relationship gets no better.!

Posted By Gordon Thelwell Hello Paul, I am a pallet racking safety inspector and as such have come across this situation before and I am pleased to say have been successful in reaching a safe and effective conclusion: As I’m sure you are aware, the most obvious motivations for we as safety professionals are not always shared by some company directors, one thing they do listen to, is how to save money (whilst at the same time making the job safer). In my experience with this situation, I have always found it successful to first start with the financial reasons as to why they should install suitable and sufficient pallet racking. You mentioned damaged boxes, i.e. damaged stock, manpower to rectify, de-stacking-restacking, transport costs, administration. In essence, when I say that installing racking WILL make their job easier, their minds become more receptive to change. I usually leave it at that for a couple of hours or days leaving them with the question "what do you think the best solution would be to be put these cost saving measures into place?" This way, the idea will be "Theirs", if you know what I mean. What usually happens then is that they come back and say "I have had a great idea! Let's get some pallet racking", "Brilliant" you reply, and then you're away. It is then at this stage that you mention how clever they are because of all the other benefits they will reap with regards to health and safety, the law etc. It makes them look good! Isn't it the truth that H&S people are the unsung heroes of the workplace? All things being equal, the safety argument should win hands down, but in the real world we know it's money that moves people. My father told me that 99% of all answers to any question in the world usually boil down to "money" and I’ve found this to be true I’m sad to say. Please do get in touch to discuss further, I have a vast resource of photographs, technical papers, prosecutions and improvement notices relating to pallet racking that I can share with you. If indeed you wish to talk, or meet in person, please just say. Very best regards, Gordon Thelwell