• Steel storage racks can pose hazards if not installed and used properly.

Steel storage racks are a staple in most industrial or warehousing workplaces. While they are invaluable at keeping materials and product organized and retrievable, these space-savers can pose hazards if not designed for the application, installed and used properly, inspected regularly, and maintained.

There are two primary federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations that are applicable to storage racks:

• 1910.176(b), which essentially says that stored items must be secured. It doesn’t specifically address racking; rather, it’s a general stacking requirement, to keep materials from falling over or collapsing.
• 1910.159, which deals with the height of any storage to fire sprinklers (that is, there must be an 18-inch minimum clearance between the materials and the sprinklers).

For most racking issues, OSHA uses the General Duty Clause of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act to hold employers responsible for protecting workers from serious and recognized hazards, often referencing the equipment manufacturer’s installation and maintenance instructions and/or the requirements in the American National Standards Institute’s ANSI/RMI MH16.1 – Specification for the Design, Testing and Utilization of Industrial Steel Storage Racks.