SEMA Compliance When You're Repairing Racking

"SEMA compliance" is usually discussed in the context of inspections. Once racking has actually been damaged, the questions change: what does the law require of the repair, how is the damage graded, who is competent to carry out the work, and what do you need to be able to show afterwards. That is what this article covers.

Where Inspection Sits — Briefly

Compliance also has an inspection side: BS EN 15635 expects a documented in-house visual routine run by a nominated Person Responsible for Racking Safety, plus an expert inspection at intervals of no more than 12 months, with load notices kept current for the configuration in use. That is a specialism in its own right and is covered in detail by our sister company at racksafetyinspections.co.uk. The rest of this article assumes damage has already been identified and deals with the repair.

The Legal Basis for Repairing Promptly

PUWER 1998 is what turns "we'll get to it" into a legal exposure. Regulation 5 requires work equipment to be maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair — damaged racking left in service is a straightforward breach. Regulation 8 requires users to have adequate information, which includes knowing a bay is isolated and why. Regulation 9 requires adequate training, which covers the people carrying out and supervising the work.

HSE guidance HSG76, Warehousing and storage: a guide to health and safety, is the recognised practical guidance for the sector and covers storage equipment including racking and shelving. BS EN 15635 provides the technical framework, including the principle that damaged equipment is assessed against measured criteria rather than judged by appearance.

Grading the Damage Is a Measurement, Not an Opinion

Every repair decision starts from the traffic-light classification:

• Green — acceptable. Within tolerance. Record and monitor at the next inspection.
• Amber — hazardous. Out of tolerance but not at immediate risk of failure. Offload as stock is picked, do not reload, repair within four weeks, after which it escalates to red.
• Red — very serious. Offload and isolate immediately; no return to service until repaired.

The tolerances applied are 3 mm maximum frontal upright deflection and 5 mm lateral, both over a 1 metre gauge length, 10 mm on bracing members in either plane over the same gauge length, beam deflection under working load limited to span/200, and residual beam deformation limited to span/1000 once unloaded. A gauge and a straight edge settle the argument; eyesight does not.

Repair Competence

PUWER's competence requirements extend to whoever works on the equipment. SEIRS — the Storage Equipment Installers Registration Scheme — is the recognised route for demonstrating installer competence in the UK, and using SEIRS-registered engineers for repairs is the straightforward way to evidence it. Repair engineers also need to understand the structural consequence of what they are doing: which levels have to be offloaded, how load is supported while a frame section is out, and how the bay is re-plumbed and re-fixed afterwards.

What Counts as a Compliant Repair

Three rules cover most of it.

No straightening. Damaged steel that has yielded cannot have its capacity restored by bending it back, and there is no way to verify what capacity it has afterwards. Cold-straightening in situ is outside accepted practice.

Correct components for the system. Repairs must use the right sections and connectors for the specific system, whether that is Dexion P90, Mecalux, Redirack, Link 51, Stow, Bito, Esnova, PSS, Apex or Polypal. Substituting components between manufacturers changes how load transfers into the upright and is not accepted practice.

Restore the whole load path, not just the visible part. A struck upright often comes with a bent brace, a distorted base plate and a loosened or pulled anchor. Replacing the leg and leaving the fixings is not a repair. Bracing, base plates, floor anchors, shims, beam connectors and safety clips are all part of the structure.

Repair Methods and When Each Applies

• Component replacement — like-for-like replacement of a damaged beam, brace or clip. The most common and quickest repair.
• Upright leg / frame section replacement — where damage is confined to the lower section, the affected leg and bracing panel are replaced using a manufacturer-approved repair system, with the bay offloaded and supported.
• Full frame replacement — where damage is high on the frame, where the frame is twisted, or where multiple legs are affected.
• Base plate and anchor renewal — where corrosion, section loss at floor level or pulled fixings are present.

Deciding between these is the subject of racking repair vs replacement, and the structural difference between the two most common repairs is set out in frame repair vs beam replacement.

Isolation and Return to Service

Compliance covers the period before the engineer arrives as well. The bay is offloaded from the top down, cordoned so it is visibly out of use, and recorded in the damage register with a grade and a date. Nothing goes back into that bay until the repair is complete and signed off. The full sequence is in what to do if your racking is damaged, and for red findings see emergency racking repair.

Records That Close the Loop

After the repair you should be able to produce, without hunting: the repair record identifying bay and components, confirmation the components match the system, evidence of correct installation and floor fixing, the written completion certificate, and the damage register entry closed out with a date. Those documents are what an insurer or an HSE inspector will ask for, and they are what stop the same finding reappearing on next year's report as outstanding.

Turning Compliance Into a Routine

Compliance is not an annual event. It is prompt repair of amber findings before they turn red, correct components, competent engineers and a register that gets closed out. Our racking maintenance programme is built around that cycle, and repairs are carried out to SEMA tolerances with written completion records.

For the practical detection side see 5 signs your pallet racking needs urgent repair.

Talk to Us

If you need amber or red findings from an inspection report priced and cleared, send the report and your postcode through the contact form or call 0800 654 6955. We work UK-wide, with particularly strong coverage across Somerset, Bristol and the South West.