MHEDA Board of Directors Meeting

Last night I returned home from the MHEDA Board of Directors meeting. MHEDA is the Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association. It is the only national trade association dedicated solely to improving the proficiency of the independent material handling equipment distributor. MHEDA represents all segments of the industry and offers resources such as education, networking opportunities, industry specific information, statistical and trend analysis and all other information specific to the material handling industry.

The Board of Directors meeting was held last week in Chicago IL. The MHEDA staff and Board members spent three solid days in meetings starting at 7:30 am planning for the future of the association. I'm very happy to report there are many exciting things in the works for MHEDA members and members to be in the coming year.

2010 will be a great year for MHEDA members with many timely educational opportunities. The number of webinars offered has been expanded and the content shaken up a bit to bring quite a few fresh ideas to the table. The educational line-up at convention is fantastic! I'm very excited to see all the offerings this year at Marco Island FL. I'm sure that it will be a big success.

For more information on everything MHEDA has to offer, visit them at http://www.mheda.org/.

Safety is NOT an Expense

U.S. Department of Labor's OSHA establishes alliance with Minneapolis-based American Warehouse Systems

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. -- The Eau Claire Area Office of the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and American Warehouse Systems in Minneapolis, a registered contractor with the federal government, will take steps to reduce and prevent injuries and illnesses in the warehouse industry through an alliance signed today.

"This alliance seeks to reach employees and employers at all levels, and provide them with the knowledge and ability to anticipate, identify and eliminate work-related hazards in warehousing," said Mark Hysell, OSHA's area director in Eau Claire.

The alliance partners will work together to develop and distribute safety and health training materials for warehousing to enable employers and employees to implement and follow best practice standards and guidelines. OSHA and American Warehouse Systems will promote these materials at conferences, meetings and other local events as well as through their individual Web sites and other media.

OSHA has improved workplace safety and health over the past 38 years. This success is reflected in the latest data (2007) showing the lowest national injury and illness incidence rate that the Bureau of Labor Statistics has ever recorded. OSHA continues to work diligently to focus its resources where they will have the most impact in assuring that every working man and woman returns home safely every day.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to assure the safety and health of America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual process improvement in workplace safety and health.

For more information please contact American Warehouse Systems at 877-677-9066 or visit our website at www.aw-systems.com.

OSHA and Warehouse Pallet Rack Safety

How many times have you questioned the stability or capacity of the racking in your warehouse? Is the load too heavy for the beams? Does the forklift operator know how to properly place the pallet in the rack? Can the uprights withstand a collision with a forklift? These are common and very reasonable questions. Every company should focus on internal safety and have or create an internal safety committee to address these concerns.
Following OSHA guidelines to the letter is still not enough to keep your employees safe. OSHA does not have regulations in place today for pallet racking, but you don’t have to go far to hear about a terrible accident that occurred with warehouse rack. Pallet rack safety is a crucial part of overall company safety and must be attended to. Employers should require pallet rack safety along with forklift training for every warehouse employee and manager.
Start by contacting a reputable material handling distributor, preferably one with an OSHA Alliance already in place. The distributor will be able to assist with the proper rack configuration, design specifications and the equipment to move the materials. They should also be able to do a repair or replacement survey of your existing pallet rack and submit a proposal to implement the plan.
A qualified contractor will ensure your uprights are plumb, beams are level and connections are secure. Each upright must be properly anchored into the concrete floor according to industry standards. All beams should have a safety lock. Whether it is a nut and bolt or integral fastener, the safety lock will help prevent accidental dislodgement of the beams. It is strongly recommended that each beam and upright is properly labeled with the capacity of the component. Each beam’s capacity is labeled per pair and an upright’s capacity is for one assembly. Keep in mind; moving beam levels after the design is complete could affect the capacities and you should check with your distributor before making these changes.
Palletized loads should be made stable before being placed in the racking system. Move the load onto a quality pallet, stretch wrap the loose product, and / or use wire decking on the beams to prevent falling materials. Wire decking is designed to hold evenly distributed loads on the surface area of the deck, which would require the pallet to be placed on the beams as well. Your standard wire deck is NOT designed for point loading or concentrated loading. Have your distributor explain the difference and provide you with solutions to your special applications.
Never climb the pallet racking, maintain proper lighting and practice good housekeeping. Make inspections, routine maintenance and training part of your safety program. Inspections will turn up damaged uprights, beams and wire decks. Have a qualified contractor repair or replace damaged components immediately. Do not attempt to repair pallet rack internally, not only is this extremely dangerous to attempt, you will void your warranty and most likely be held liable if a failure should occur. For additional safety you should add post protectors to the pallet rack uprights and guardrails at the ends of the aisles to keep warehouse vehicles from contacting the rack. You should also use rack back guards to prevent pallets from accidentally being pushed through the back side of the system.
For more information on warehouse safety please contact American Warehouse Systems at 877-677-9066 or http://www.aw-systems.com/.

Misconceptions Regarding Wire Decking

There is a common misconception that WIRE DECKS can be used to support the weight of stored pallets. This is not the intended use. Pallet Supports should be used for supporting the weight of a pallet or tote that does not reach, or can not be supported by, the entire top surface of both the front and back pallet rack beams. Wire decks do have a capacity rating, however, in accordance with ANSI standard MH26.2 the wire deck design must support the manufacturer’s rated capacity for a uniformly distributed static load over the entire surface of the deck – and this includes the surface of the deck over the racking load beams. Loads should never be pushed onto, or dropped onto a wire deck. Wire decks are not intended to be used as a platform or walkway, nor do they have any rating for Point Load.
Wire decks are designed to stop small boxes or other potentially loose material stacked on a pallet from falling through the racking and damaging inventory or injuring people below. They also offer a measure of security for pallets not placed squarely in the racking by stabilizing those loads, provided that both the front and back of the pallet are both resting across the racking load beams.
Pallet supports are in fact specifically designed to support pallets or totes that are short and do not reach from the front beam edge to beyond the back beam. Pallet supports are ideal for stabilizing small or irregular point load applications, but they offer no protection against loose material falling through the racking, so when this is a concern the customer should use both pallet supports and wire decks or specially designed decks for point loads.
Years ago when steel was much less expensive, wire deck manufacturers routinely used 4 Ga. wire in a 2” x 4” mesh pattern. As costs rose and imports created new price competition manufactures first increased the mesh to 2.5” x 4” and eventually reduced the thickness of the wire to 5 and even 6 Ga. The older, heavier decks were often misused as pallet supports because they didn't show fatigue as readily as wire decks do now – yet those heavier gauge decks with the tighter mesh were given the same capacity rating as decks currently being produced. Customers with these older decks may expect that new decks purchased now will fit and function as the old decks have. It therefore becomes important that we caution them against the continued misuse and misapplication of this seemingly generic product. In fact, simply because today’s decks do show fatigue more readily and more pronounced, misuse becomes evident immediately. Over time this should eliminate the misuse of this product and lead to fewer accidents or injuries.

For more information, you can contact us at 877-677-9066 or visit our website at http://www.aw-systems.com/.

Pallet Rack Repair

I have been asked many times over, "What is the savings of using a rack repair kit over upright replacement". There are several advantages that come into play with pallet rack upright repair. A rack repair kit is usually the best alternative when the damage to the pallet rack upright is low, which it usually is (rack damage is often caused by forklifts or other warehouse vehicles). The repair kit can be installed without disassembling the rack. This means that you do not have to take down the beams or decks or remove in rack sprinklers to make your rack safe again. Often the pallets can be unloaded "as you go" so you don't need to pay for off site storage of your pallets. The kit and installation is usually a bit less expensinve than replacement but the true cost difference is in the "extras" that are often overlooked.
The most important factor in researching pallet rack repair is to make certain that whomever you use uses RMI compliant engineered repair kits and they can give that to you in writing. If you don't your racking system could end up being less structurally sound than it was before the repairs began.
Visit our pallet rack repair page at www.aw-systems.com/pallet-rack-repair.htm

Number One Supplier to the Department of Defense

American Warehouse Systems has always supported our military every way possible. We are very fortunate to be the number one supplier of mezzanine systems to the US Department of Defense. Our goal is to supply the highest quality product at reasonable prices to achieve the best value for our US Federal Government Customers. For more information on our mezzanine systems visit us at www.aw-systems.com/mezzanine-systems.htm.

Welcome to Our Blog

American Warehouse Systems is a full service material handling equipment supplier specializing in US Federal Government defense distribution centers and storage aid systems. Visit us at www.aw-systems.com for more information.