Give your lumber racks regular check-ups

f) ecx sAFEry should be a primary concern at all lum-llbervards and home center warehouses.

FBS Group, Chicago, Il., which provides rack protection products and conducts rack safety inspections, suggests regularly reviewing your racking for signs of damage or deterioration.

Inspections should include:

Look for signs that the rack's structural integrity has been compromised. Lumber racks, like any other structures, depend on their form for their structural integrity. Once their form is compromised, their load-carrying capacity decreases. And once a rack member deteriorates, it may no longer carry its rated load.

Most rack damage occurs gradually. It's easy to spot and recognize the need to repair, say, a frame leg that has been struck so forcefully that it's now bent to the point it's no longer touching the ground.

Less obvious, but perhaps equally in need of repair, is the frame or beam that has been banged into repeatedly for months or years and appears "merely" dented. It may still support some loads, but possibly not the maximum design load.

. Make sure the racks are being used as intended. Are loads properly positioned? Are loads exceeding the designed weight? Is the rack designed to accommodate that type of product?

In a lumberyard or warehouse, information as to how much a load weighs is not always immediately available. One way to detect overloading is by measuring the amount of beam deflection present. All load beams will and are allowed to deflect, or sag, a certain amount. According to the Rack Manufacturers Institute, a roll-formed beam has an allowable deflection of the length of the beam divided by 180 (i.e., a 10-ft. beam would have an allowable deflection of two-thirds of an inch). If the deflection is greater, the beam has been overloaded.

. Identify any loose, missing or damaged fasteners. Forklift impact can shear off anchor bolts or disengage load locks, snap locks, and other locking devices designed to prevent beam end plates from being lifted up and sepa- rating from the slots in the column.

. Ensure accessories are not missing or damaged. Accessories such as wall ties. cross bars. wire mesh decks. pallet stops, corner guards, and other impact protectors are usually installed to protect the rack structure or enhance safety.

Pay special attention to any modifications to the original rack structure. The primary areas of concern are non-engineered additions that introduce loads to or change the original structural design of the rack system. In particular, welding anything to a rack, even if the addition seems to be of inconsequential weight, can drastically affect the member it is welded to. And, the weld itself can also be a problem.

If columns have been repaired, make sure the kits were installed properly. FBS inspectors have observed column repair kits installed without a splice cuff, with all or parts of the backer column removed, and lacking the specified weld per the manufacturers specifications.