When Should You Repair Your Damaged Pallet Racks?

Your facility has damaged pallet rack, but how do you know if it is time to have it repaired before it fails and causes damage to your personnel and your product?

Below is some advice from the Rack Manufactures Institute and OSAH/RMI that might help you make an informed decision.

If you would like to find out more about our Pallet Rack Repair Program and how it can benefit you, click here to contact us and we will be happy to answer any questions you might have and arrange for a FREE, no obligation, pallet rack damage survey.

Rack Manufactures Institute

What should I do if a column or other rack component is damaged? The RMI Specification states, “Upon any visible damage, the pertinent portions of the rack shall be unloaded immediately by the user and the damaged portion shall be adequately repaired or replaced.” If the damage were to re-occur, the application of the racks should be reviewed to see if modifications could be made to lessen the severity or the frequency of the damage. Forklift driver training is essential.

Source RMI mhia.org

OSAH/RMI Published Statement

The ANSI/RMI Specification shows the maximum out-of-plumb ratio for a loaded rack column as 1/2" per 10 feet of height. Columns whose out-of-plumb ratio exceed this limit must be unloaded and re-plumbed. Any damaged parts must be repaired or replaced. This ratio could be used for straightness also. In other words, the out-of-straightness limit between any two points on a column should not exceed 0.05" per foot of length ( 1/2" per 10 feet).

An out-of-plumb or out-of-straight condition will reduce the capacity of a rack column. The reduction can be significant. A rack that is out-of-plumb from top to bottom or a rack column that is not straight is likely to become further out-of-plumb or out-of-straight when loaded.

The out-of-straight limit is given to prevent excessive "bows" or "dogleg" conditions that may exist in a rack column. A column could be plumb from top to bottom but have unacceptable bow at mid-height or a 20' column could be out 1" from top to bottom, which could be acceptable using simple top-to-bottom out-of-plumb measurement, but the entire out-of-plumb could be between the floor and the 5 ft. level. This dogleg condition would be very harmful. This condition could be caused by fork lift impact. The column could also become bent and exceed this limit. As re-written the specification now prevents these conditions from being acceptable if they exceed 0.05" per foot out-of-straight limit.

Source RMI mhia.org