Pallet Rack Capacity Labels & Their Importance

The safe use of pallet rack systems is not only limited to the meticulous and careful loading and unloading of your product, but just as important is to know the weight capacity of your racking system, so it is not overloaded. These factors combined are crucial to the overall integrity and strength of the structure. This is where small things like pallet rack capacity labels can make a big difference, as they quickly indicate the safe working load limits for your pallet rack system. Not to mention, they remind workers about the importance of beam weight limits when it comes to keeping your storage environment safe. Without capacity labels in place, the rack could be overloaded and lead to an accident, putting your workers and the people surrounding them at the risk of injuries, or even worse, death. And as an owner, that’s the last thing you want! According to RMI standards, it is the responsibility of the owner to post permanent signage in one or more high visible location(s), indicating load capacities of your pallet rack bays. Quite often these labels can also be coupled with rack load signs to enhance your safety efforts. These signs can also provide advisory and warning information. With ample information available, which is clear and easy to understand for everyone, pallet racking safety can be easily achieved. For these reasons, it makes sense to use pallet rack capacity labels.

Tips to Labeling Your Pallet Rack

Outfitting your pallet rack system with capacity labels isn’t as daunting as it seems. It’s fairly simple, here are some of the things that should be included in your labels:

• Average pallet load
• Maximum permissible pallet load
• Maximum uniformly distributed load per level
• Maximum total load per bay

Here are some tips to keep in mind when labeling your pallet rack and storage systems:

• Labels should be durable and fixed in place.
• The writing should be easy-to-read.
• Use easy-to-spot colors like red on white and yellow on black.

It is also a good idea to obtain and keep on hand load application and rack configuration drawings, so you know exactly how the system was designed and what it is designed to handle weight capacity wise. Please note that if the pallet rack systems levels are changed from their original positions, it could change the weight capacity of the system. Always check to make sure it is safe to make changes before you do so, to prevent a rack system failure.