3 Safety Tips For Your New Pallet Racks

Adding pallet racks to your warehouse or business can be a great way to create additional space for your inventory and other items. If you've recently added new pallet racks, your employees are likely eager to start getting everything organized. But before you begin, it's always a good idea to put safety first. Pallet racks are convenient to have but can also potentially be dangerous if used improperly. Here are 3 safety tips for your new pallet racks that every employee should be aware of.

Keep It Square

Whether your employees are experienced with forklifts or not, this is a great time to give everyone a training session on how to properly place pallets on the new racks. Great care should also be taken to make sure that each pallet is distributed squarely and evenly, covering the front and back of the rack. If you let your first few pallets go in unevenly, you could be looking at a nightmare scenario later on when the entire lot of them comes crashing down.

Don't Forget the Guards

If guards were not installed on the uprights for the new pallet rack system, this is something you will want to make sure gets done as soon as possible. These guards can help brace the pallet racks if a forklift or other piece of heavy machinery bumps into one of the uprights. Make your employees regularly inspect the rack guards to make sure they are still holding up properly, ready to protect your valuable merchandise. At the same time, encourage your workers to slow things down while driving around the racks so that hopefully an impact never actually happens.

Make Sure Every Employee Knows The Maximum Load

Pallet racks can hold a lot of weight but that doesn't mean you can just keep piling on new pallets. Your pallet racks do have a maximum load that they can handle and every employee should be aware of what this number is. It can be helpful if you create a system where each time a new pallet is added to a rack, the employee jots down the new total weight for that rack. Pushing your rack's total capacity can be tempting sometimes if you have extra inventory coming in but it's just not worth the risk.

Pallet racks are a great way to keep your warehouse organized but make sure your employees are properly trained before setting them loose to reorganize everything. Every employee should be properly trained on using the forklift to squarely and evenly put pallets on the rack. Ensure your rack guards are properly installed and maintained to protect from accidental impacts and never, ever push your luck by exceeding your rack's maximum capacity.


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