Hi folks; unable to use the search facility for some reason (just me?) - I have decide to post realising that this may well have been asked before, but here goes. We have lots of racking which we get inspected by a SEMA qualified person every six months. I had a 'discussion' today with the warehouse manager who insists that only SEMA qualified persons can now inspect racking. I disagreed and said that as a supplement to this 6 monthly inspection we should have one of our maintenance persons inspect on a monthly basis - with appropriate training and with the relevant guidance and tools etc. Can an enlightened person advise whether I am right or wrong please? Thank you.

We get our racking inspected by a certified (SEMA) competent contractor annually. In addition our maintenance department inspect 1 racking aisle per week. Our maintenance team are not SEMA qualified, there is no legal requirement for them to be, but we do provide suitable and sufficient in-house training in racking inspection (from a Manager who has been on the SEMA course). Clearly they need to know what they are looking for / auditing so some element of training / verification of knowledge will be necessary. We supplement the above with racking inspections during rolling warehouse audits, about 3 per year per site, conducted by an auditor who has been on the SEMA course.

Correct, you should have a thorough examination (SEMA approved) on an annual basis to check the racking integrity - this will include strength tests etc that would not necessarily be spotted by a visual check. As with any piece of equipment however, this annual examination provides a snapshot in time.The very next day a FLT might collide with the racking and go unreported (I don't know many drivers that would own up to a racking collision) and in theory go unchecked for the remaining 364 days of the year (or until a racking collapse occurs). It's the reason we developed a tag and checklist system which encourages visual checks of not only the racking structure, but also the lighting, pallets and general housekeeping of the aisles etc. A risk assessment should identify how often these in-house checks should be carried out - a high traffic area with multiple forklifts will need more regular checks than a small unit with hand pallet trucks etc. Drop me a PM if you want some info sending over.