Industry good practice
SEMA approved rack inspectors and what the inspection covers
Updated
The SEMA route is the recognised industry benchmark for racking inspection. It is good practice, not law, and knowing the difference makes you a better buyer of it.
What a SEMA approved rack inspector is
The Storage Equipment Manufacturers' Association operates an approved rack inspector qualification: individuals are assessed on their ability to inspect storage equipment and classify damage against published criteria, and the association publishes rack safety guidance for warehouse operators. Details of the scheme and the association's rack safety material are on the SEMA rack safety pages. Using an approved inspector is a way of demonstrating competence; it is not a statutory requirement, and general health and safety consultants also offer racking inspections, with reports that are not necessarily equivalent.
The green, amber and red risk categories
| Category | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Green risk | Damage within acceptable limits. The location can stay in service, the finding is recorded, and it is checked again at the next inspection to see whether it is getting worse. |
| Amber risk | Damage beyond the acceptable limit that requires remedial action. Practice is to offload the affected location and not reload it until it has been repaired, on the timescale the inspector specifies in the report. |
| Red risk | Serious damage requiring immediate action. The location is offloaded straight away, the area isolated, and nothing is reloaded until the affected components have been repaired or replaced. |
The boundaries between categories are dimensional: an inspector measures deflection of uprights and beams and compares them against published limits rather than judging by eye. We are not reproducing the measurement thresholds here, because they depend on the component and the published criteria in force. Ask your inspector which limits they are applying, and ask for the measured values in the report rather than the category alone.
What the inspection should cover
- Uprights, including front and rear faces, splices and bracing, checked for deflection, dents and corrosion.
- Beams and beam connectors, including missing or damaged safety locks and beams sitting incorrectly in the connector.
- Base plates and floor fixings, including missing bolts, damaged plates and cracked or spalled floor.
- Bracing, ties and run spacers, particularly on back-to-back runs.
- Frame protectors, end guards and column guards, where fitted.
- Load notices: whether they are present, legible and consistent with how the racking is actually being loaded.
- Pallet condition and how pallets are seated, since poor pallets damage beams and cause falls.
- Any signs the installation has been altered from its original design, such as beam levels moved without reassessment.
What a usable report looks like
- Every finding located. Aisle, bay, level and component, so a repair team can find it without a guided tour.
- A risk category and a measured value per finding, not a general statement that the installation is satisfactory.
- Photographs of the significant items, dated.
- A prioritised remedial list, red first, with what needs offloading immediately.
- A marked-up layout where the site is large enough for one to help.
- A clear statement of what could not be inspected because it was loaded or inaccessible. This is the section most often missing and the one an auditor will look for.
Repairs: a note on incentives
Many inspection providers also sell replacement components and remedial work. That is not automatically a problem, and it is often the fastest route to a fixed warehouse. It is worth naming, though: ask whether repairs are quoted separately from the inspection, and confirm you are free to have the remedial work priced by someone else. A report that finds a great deal of amber and red damage should be checkable against a second opinion.