Avoiding damage to your pallets not only ensures that you save your investments and products but also ensures the safety of your employees as well.
When you have a warehouse, a surprising amount of your work is likely done on pallet racks. With the holidays approaching, you may be stuffing your warehouse full of product to take advantage of the busy season. But with the extra commotion, it’s important to keep an eye on your racks and shelving. Avoiding damage to your pallet racks not only ensures that you save your investments and products but also ensures the safety of your employees as well.
Add Guards
One of the quickest ways to protect your pallet racks and shelves is to add pallet guards. These function as a type of safety gate and can help prevent collisions, falls, and other damage. If you have space and budget, you should use them on all of your racks. If cost is an issue, ensure that you’re at least using safety guards on the racks that are most frequently used.
Inspect Frequently
Keeping on top of your pallet shelf inspections is essential. If one is to break the damage, danger, and loss of product can cause your company serious issues. Preventing problems can be very easy though if you follow a few simple inspection steps. Along with signs of wear look for loose bolts and hooks, damaged I beams, loose mounting holes, rust and corrosion, and signs of damage from a collision with forklifts and equipment. Some of these issues may be repaired or treated; others may require that parts or the entire shelf be replaced if the damage is significant.
Know Capacity
Different shelves and pallets have very different weight limits and capacities. With the holidays on the way and stocking needs at their highest, it’s essential that weight limits are well known and visible to ensure they are followed. Putting too much weight on a shelving unit can put the shelf, your stock, and anyone passing by it at risk.
Review Widths
If you find that your staff is constantly bumping into your pallets, you may not have your rows set widely enough. If shelving is hit with forklifts and equipment often enough, it will show signs of wear much sooner. Pay attention to how your team moves through your space and adjust the width as needed.
Make Space Work for You with Metro Shelving!
If you’re a homeowner or run a business, you can depend on Metro Shelving. If you need to outfit a warehouse, give us a call at (800) 400-7500. Call us even if you aren’t looking to outfit a warehouse because if your garage, laundry room, or kitchen pantry are in need of help, we can help you too. Are you on social media? Follow us on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.