Top tips for racking specification

Cheaper racking, particularly for industrial use, isn’t guaranteed to last and may not fulfil your business requirements in the longer term; it could be quickly outgrown by the business or end up battered and unsafe after just a few months.

Your racking has to be easily scalable so that you can quickly and easily add more units or bring in new types of racking to take account of storage requirements.

Warehouse or storage planning, prior to the installation of shelving or any other storage solution, must take into account the weight of what is being stored and how it’s likely to be distributed on the shelf. Considering the weight factor will help you to choose a shelving system with a load capacity that is strong enough to safely store your products.

The layout has to provide ease of access and exits. We’ve seen cases where an exit has been blocked because somebody has tried to squeeze in one last row of cantilever racking or put some vertical storage racks too close to a fire exit.

There are a number of storage systems such as Pallet Racking, Long Span shelving or Two Tier shelving which can enable you to safely and easily utilise the available height of your building. This needs to be planned carefully to ensure personnel and equipment safety, but it is also a great option if your storage capacity is being squeezed. If this is something that you are considering, our advice would be to call in an expert who can provide you with sound recommendations and advice.