Why You Should Have Pallet Rack Protection
Why You Should Have Pallet Rack Protection
You’ve invested in a customized storage system that perfectly suits the needs of your company and paid to have it installed. However, you’re missing a key ingredient to your storage system: pallet rack protection.
The racks in your system are key to the continued success of your operations, so why wouldn’t you protect them?
Benefits of Having Pallet Rack Protection
Unfortunately, rack damage from forklifts is a common occurrence in distribution centers. Having rack protection installed will help avoid much of the major damage of these impacts.
Three major benefits provided by rack protection are:
- Increases employee safety.
- Protects racks from damage, helping to avoid a collapse.
- Avoids damage to your rack investment and inventory.
Pallet Rack Protection Recommendations
Rack protection products will significantly improve the safety of your warehouse. Not all warehouse rack protectors are designed to do the same job, and often incorporating multiple types will provide the most benefit.
Below are some protection options available. The video in this section also details these protection options.
Column Guards
Damage to columns is most often the result of forklifts bumping into the rack. Column guards provide a buffer between the forklift and the rack, making the impact less severe and often preventing immediate rack failure.
Column guards will protect the interior frame of your rack. This makes it useful when you are loading and unloading ground level pallets.
End of Row Protection
While column guards shield individual columns from being struck directly by forklifts traveling through aisles, end-of-row protection defends against forklifts running directly into frames.
End of row protection is useful when protecting against sliding pallets. Another instance you should consider end of row protection is if you store pallets on the outside of the rack, next to the end of it. End of row protection stops damage such as bending rack.
Down Aisle Protection
Forklifts traveling through warehouse aisles can run off-course into the rack. Down-aisle protection helps guide them through the system.
Down aisle protection is important if you have very narrow aisles (aisles 6-8 ft. wide). It also is useful to protect against rack damage when conducting high lifts.
Frame Extensions
Frame extensions are installed at the top of each frame to prevent materials stored on the top beam levels from falling.
You should consider frame extensions if you store product on the top level of the rack. This protects damage of inventory caused by forklift impacts.
Your Next Steps For Protecting Your Racking System
REB Storage Systems International can provide and install all of the rack protection mentioned in this article. We specialize in identifying areas where protection products should be incorporated and can provide you with a detailed list of these concerns.
REB has been providing material handling systems to the warehousing and distribution industry since 1962. We understand that not all products fit the typical racking options. Our team of engineers specialize in evaluating SKUs and designing a storage system based on them, giving you a system that uses every available inch of available storage space.
Fill out the ‘Submit Your Inquiry’ form to get in touch with one of our industry experts who can answer any questions you may have or help you assess your current or future operation requirements.