The Safety of your warehouse racking is just a single part of a larger commitment to general warehouse racking safety. Warehouse fires are just one of the things which following safety procedures can prevent.

Warehouse fires tend to make headlines due to their scale. However, after the flames have been washed away, there is little to be said about the lessons learned from these incidents. Though many people may talk about the drama of the fire, but the rules of warehouse racking safety are not given enough attention to prevent it from happening in the future.

How Warehouse Racking Safety can Reduce the Main Causes of a Warehouse Fire

According to Ian Gouch, the senior technical advisor at BAFSA, the best approach to tackling fires is to prevent them from happening in the first place’. In the 2017 SEMA Generall Meeting, Gough pointed the finger at an “unrealistic expectation” as one of the causes of warehouse fires.

In other words, warehouse owners expect that the fire services will be able to quickly put an end to a warehouse fire. In reality, however, it is not that simple and is extremely unlikely.  Though the fire services can put out a fire and rescue people from burning buildings, it should really be seen as a last resort as opposed to the most common solution.

Defective warehouse racking equipment is the cause of most warehouse fires in England and Wales, with 28% of incidents being caused this way. On top of this, a further 11% of warehouse fires are caused by the staff misusing the warehouse racking equipment.

Both of these dangers, however, can be heavily reduced by warehouse racking safety and by following SEMA safety guidelines. When management perform regular warehouse racking inspections recommended by both the Provision of Use and Work Equipment (PUWER) 1998 and HSE, they are ensuring that their work equipment is in top condition and is being used as it should be. By doing this, warehouse staff and management are doing their bit to reduce the risks which make up nearly half of all warehouse fires.

Warehouse Racking Safety Systems Enforce Responsibility

Another issue mentioned by Gough is the lack of willingness for people to take responsibility once a fire has occurred. After the Magna Park warehouse fire back in 2005, Gough remembers a significant lack of accountability for the incident.

The building was under shared ownership, as well as being operated and managed by several different businesses, all of which who had their own interests at heart. Each business within the building brushed the blame onto each other, making Gough question who was in charge. In his opinion, when people refuse to take responsibility, “that’s when accidents happen.”

Warehouse racking safety is there to ensure people take responsibility. HSE’s guidance makes it clear that each workplace must nominate a “person responsible for racking safety (PRRS)” and, like all other warehouse workers, this should be “competent”. In addition, according to the CDM regulations of 2015, the employer should be responsible in ensuring that all warehouse staff are “competent”.

When followed correctly, warehouse racking safety and warehouse safety in general provides clear guidance as to who is responsible and for what. It is this responsibility that prevents accidents. When someone is ware that they will be the person to blame if anything were to go wrong, then they are much more likely to ensure that everything goes as smoothly as possible and avoid any potential incidents.

Warehouse Racking Safety Can Prevent Fires, But Sprinklers Stop Them

If there was anything in particular that Gough touched focus on more than anything else in his talk, it was that every single warehouse in the UK should be fitted with sufficient sprinklers.

Should the worst happen and a fire does start in a warehouse, sprinklers are there to put a stop to them. Up to 99% of all fires in warehouses fitted with sprinklers are prevented by these systems. That statistic should be more than enough for all warehouse management to see that sprinklers are mandatory, but this is not the case.

Gough expressed his issues with the fact that one of the key reasons people don’t install sprinklers is the risk of water damage. His argument was that too many people seem to think that if one person lights a match and a small bit of smoke gets into the air then the entire system will go off.

This, however, isn’t true. In truth, sprinklers will only go off in a room with a fire, and there is much less water used than a fire service would. The combination of sprinkler systems and proper racking safety can prevent and, if needed stop a fire in its tracks.

For an efficient selection of warehouse racking system, get in touch with Monarch Today.