Our first question this month asks for guidance on Ultrasonic Inspections and our second is a query on Installation.

Ultrasonic Inspection of Cantilever Racking

Q. I’m looking for some help/guidance/advice on the above please.

I have a series of Cantilever Racking within my warehouse which I visually inspect periodically as per SEMA guidelines. The racking has arms that are welded to the uprights, I am being asked to carry out and provide evidence of ultrasonic soundness of the welds.

What is your knowledge/ experience of this type of testing and are there any SEMA/British Standards to consider?

A. Ultrasonic testing of welds is normally done as part of QA at the end of the initial fabrication process on highly stressed fabrications such as pressure vessels or oil rig work and is not normally done as part of a regular visual inspection routine for racking during use. The effectiveness of the ultrasonic work is dependent on the skill and qualification of the operator who is looking for the usual weld deficiencies such as ‘cracks’, ‘inclusions’ in the weld metal and a lack of penetration of weld metal into the parent steel.

It is a justifiable question we suppose as to how you know the weld quality of this product is adequate for the loads being applied in this particular situation however this is a question normally addressed to the fabricator at the point of purchase of the storage equipment. By the sounds of things you have had this rack for some time so if it has not caused a problem before now it is likely that the supplier’s QA was sufficient to ensure consistent good quality.

Testing does not have to be necessarily done by ultrasonic means and quality can be demonstrated by training, radiographic testing or by the simpler dye-penetrant or magnetic particle testing methods which are specifically good at picking up weld cracks.

Ultrasonic tests are not cheap so perhaps you need to enquire as to the reason it is suggested necessary to have this work done and who is paying for it. If there is some knowledge of bad weld being placed by a particular operative in specific product delivered to the market place it might be necessary the check a lot of production to establish exactly the extent and location of any defective workmanship.

Racking Installation Query

Q. I really need some confirmation of a couple of things.

1. Does adjustable pallet warehouse racking have to be installed by qualified installers or as I have been told staff with limited knowledge can build it and get a SEMA registered racking inspector in after it is built to sign it off as safe?

2. Does the dismantling of unsafe adjustable pallet racking built by untrained staff have to be carried out by qualified persons?

A. All on the same theme however several questions here so I will try to answer in steps.

1) Racking can be installed by competent people and it is down to the employer as to how he confirms that competence. One way is to have people trained under the SEMA SEIRS scheme however H&SE will not endorse any particular qualification as they contend that would give one provider an unfair advantage in the market place. It is open to people with other qualifications to demonstrate that their qualification results in the same or better level of competence compared with SEMA-SEIRS training.

Confusing I know however I can see the point of not wanting any organisation including SEMA having a monopoly of certifying people.

2) If staff with limited knowledge are building racking then the owner of the premises must assess that his staff have the competence to build this material without dropping it, falling off it or otherwise hurting themselves or others in the process. In theory it is possible however in practice it probably comes round to the training under 1) if the owner does not wish to stick his neck out too far in the realms of responsibility!!

3) Getting a SARI to inspect the rack after build but before first load would overcome the risk of racking being built incorrectly from a carrying capacity point of view however would not overcome the lack of experience and knowledge causing an accident during the construction process.

We wonder if such unskilled people would have the knowledge to prepare a written risk assessment and a method statement before carrying out this work which would be a basic fundamental required by anyone unskilled taking on such a task. Any incorrect assembly work would have to be corrected / repaired before first use which might also take a significant amount of time.

4) Dismantling racking seems much easier than construction on the face of things, however it is very easy for an unskilled and inexperienced team to remove critical bracing in the wrong order and create an unstable structure during the process. It is sensible before this process to have access to an experienced engineer ideally from the supply company who either provides or approves a method statement confirming that the structure continues to be safe and stable during all phases of the dismantling process. This might also point in the direction of using trained and experienced teams who will usually produce such plans as a matter of course.

SEMA

www.sema.org.uk

Comments are closed.