Looking for advice from someone with greater experience than I. We're taking on a large warehouse and racking it out for external storage (previously we'd contracted the storage to a third party). The warehouse has 8 fire exits along two walls ( 4 top and 4 bottom if you're looking at a plan view, entry into offices to the left and the wall to the right is a solid wall with no breaks or doors. The racking will run left to right. As the warehouse will have large continuous runs of racking bays, do people consider it necessary to have a central aisle running top to bottom to gain access to the fire doors or would the installation of fire exits in the fourth outside wall be preferential, this giving two routes of exit from any of the aisles (to the left and through the offices or to right through the wall). The central aisle would run under racking bays and my concern is that at some point in the future these bays would be filled or pallets dropped in the spaces. Okay it then becomes a management issues to ensure they're kept clear, but I'd sooner avoid this problem if possible and having fire exits in the end wall would facilitate this. Thoughts and opinions welcomed.

73m (L) x 35m (W) x 6.5m (H)

Its no problem at all. I'm happy for the assistance. At the moment we're still in the planning stage for the racking. The racking is, at the moment, intended to run from one end to the other with a gap at each end for narrow isle trucks to navigate around to gain access from one aisle to another but no gap in the middle. The racking is intended to be four bays high. We could put a 'corridor' through the middle by losing the bottom bay of each run but this would mean people travelling under the remaining three bays in the even of a fire to reach an exit.

The main entrance in/out is located along the bottom wall.

I agree with firesafety101 + we really need to know what is being stored -flammable, hazardous, oxidising, uncoded etc. Does it fall within DSEAR? Also, type of motive power for FLT, how many etc. Basically, this is not something that should be researched on this forum and then relied upon as demonstration of compliance with the FSO without additional competence. Frank Hallett

Do you have sprinklers installed?

Its been a while since I worked in the storage industry (project manager for racking installation, 15 years ago) so my comments may probably be well outdated however they should provide some food for thought: 1) Having bridges within a large run is not unusual and very common where high pedestrian or picking truck activity exists 2) Where bridges do exist then the end frames should be heavily armoured with barriers and a "clapper" or laser activated buzzer should be installed to warn the user that the FLT mast is high before hitting the racking along with good floor markings 3) As you mention, good housekeeping, policy and management would keep any aisle clear 4) Long narrow aisle runs do potentially cause issues for fire escape / emergency rescue (say racking collapse) for FLT operators - central aisles reduce this hazard 5) Design will be dependant on a fire risk assessment with local authorities / racking installer / insurance - consult with them all 6) There are many specialist warehouse fire prevention companies who specialise in this area. 7) There are many pallet racking installers who can assist you in this matter - ensure they are members of SEIRS - (Storage Equipment Installers Registration Scheme) for installation controls. 8) Good lighting improves warehouse safety (personal opinion) 9) It was always considered best practice to keep picking operations away from any FLT movement where possible - the minimum control being to restrict FLT access during picking - especially in your case of narrow aisle. 10) Your concern of FLT/Pedestrian collision during an emergency is of concern I agree but under such a situation all FLT movements should be stopped therefore reducing risk?