Your Obligation as a Business
To satisfy legal requirements, businesses have a duty of care to maintain storage equipment, warehouse racking, and maximise safety within the workplace. This can be achieved by adhering to the HSE Racking Inspection Legislation.
You need a technically competent person to regularly inspect storage systems. As a business, you have an obligation to carry out in-house inspections of your storage equipment on a regular basis to comply with the law. This is to verify the equipment condition at regular intervals, ensuring the storage equipment remains serviceable and safe at all times.
Current safety legislation falls under various documents. A few examples are as follows:
Workplace Health, Safety and Welfare Regulations of 1992
Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) of 1998
Warehouse and Storage – A guide to health and safety (HSE76)
One of the easiest documents to follow and take in is HSE76 for pallet racking inspections. A copy of which can be downloaded by clicking on the following link:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg76.htm
The inspection requirement is visual only but should be documented by the nominated PRRS or health and safety executive for future reference.
By logging regular checks, any deterioration or damage to the racking system can also highlight repetitive damage and methods of avoiding similar damage in the future.
By following the above guidelines, you will achieve much higher levels of safety and more likely to comply with current legislation whilst also maintaining your storage equipment and avoiding unnecessary repair bills.
