The first question we have this month is asking if the addition of new skid channels manufactured and added to existing racking would need to be weight tested.
Added weight
Q. At present we are re-designing the layout of our Racking system, and we interested in manufacturing some skid channels to support our metal pallets. Do we need to have these weight tested and certificated and could you recommend a company that could do this.
A. Racking is considered to be work equipment and therefore parts of it such as skid channels etc. come under these regulations in general terms as we understand it. If you were selling these items you would have a responsibility as a supplier to tell the user how to use them safely which means you would have to declare a safe working load with an adequate factor of safety. If you were using these internally then the need to formally test and declare a SWL does not exist in the same way, however, you still have a duty of care to your own personal. In some regard the need to establish the ultimate strength and then to apply a safety factor to arrive at a safe working load is the same, as plainly asking your personal to work with equipment where the safe carrying capacity is not known is unacceptable.
There are some organisations who will undertake tests to destruction and you can if you wish find some names of companies who will carry out this work on the SEMA website www.sema.org.uk.
A ‘batch test’ could be carried out such that the result would be valid for that ‘batch of material’ only with that material, quality, thickness, workmanship etc. If in the future another batch were manufactured then further tests would need to be done.
If on the other hand a production line for a standard product was being set up then a quality system would need to be established behind the design specifying the material grade of the steel, detail dimensions of the skid channels and some fairly infrequent confirmatory tests would be required to ensure that the publicised carrying capacity was still being met.
The number you are contemplating is critical in terms of how such systems are set up and the degree of preciseness that is required.
Mezzanine Floors
Q. We have built 3 mezzanine floors in our factory, for storage purposes. In order for these structures to comply with regulations and to be accepted by local authorities, we need to know what we need to do in the following areas, both on and under the floors:
Signage,
Smoke detection,
Emergency lighting,
What is the current legislation concerning this?
A. Mezzanines must comply with building regulations and normally the designer of the floor would consider the requirements of the regulations alongside your own requirements as the potential user of the equipment. The designer would consider among other matters the size of the floor, the likely imposed loading, the number of people likely to be working on the floor at any one time together with the means of escape in the event of a fire etc. Having prepared a design, this would then go through an approval process which might be via a specialist firm of consultants or through the local authority in house engineering department who would confirm that the structure was compliant with regulations and acceptable to the local fire brigade who have an interest on these matters.
This design would specify for instance the level of smoke detection and emergency lighting that would be necessary to safely evacuate the building in the event of fire depending on the travel distances and numbers of people involved. As you might imagine the levels of protection necessary would be greater where a greater number of people are involved so I am afraid all such issues need to be considered on a case by case basis.
Signage would normally be provided as part of the installation depending on the structural design. There is a requirement that as a User you need to be able to inform your Operatives on how to use the floor safely and while SEMA publish some guidelines on what a typical sign for a mezzanine floor notice would look like the actual loading figure together with any limitations (for instance is a hand pallet truck allowed on the floor) would need to be provided by the designer of the floor.
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