Pallet racking is essential for any warehouse or factory. It allows the user top drastically to increase the capacity of their space. Pallet racking allows product to be stored on multiple levels without the risk of causing damage.
What is the problem with not adding additional support?
A typical bay has beams that run between the uprights and pallets can then be stored by placing it on top of both beam profiles. The issue here is that they typical beam profile is around 50mm in depth. This is a small area for an operator to position a large and heavy load that can often lead to accidents through misplaced pallets or damaged pallets falling off the system. Luckily, we have some solutions to make sure that this doesn’t happen to you…
Pallet support bars:
The first method that we recommend is our easyBAR™ pallet support bar range. This solution is usually executed by placing two pallet supports under each pallet position. This provides sufficient support for your pallets to help reduce some of the risks that were discussed above. However, sometimes we would recommend adding more bars if you are dealing with an exceptionally heavy pallet load. We recommend this if the pallet is too small to span the beams and would be solely positioned on the support bars. At QTS we produce three main types of pallet support bars:
- Standard pallet support bar – 50x50mm box section that sits flush to the beam level
- Raised pallet support bar – 50x100mm box section that allows the pallet to sit above the beams which allows forklifts to easily get under the pallets.
- Garment rail support bars – rounded profile bar that is perfectly suited to the storing of clothes in warehouse spaces.
See our range of pallet support bars and further specification on our online shop.
Although Pallet Support Bars are great, they also have their downside. Pallet support bars still leave a large opening for loose items to fall through. Not only can this cause revenue loss through damage to products, but its also a risk to your staff working below. This is where our easySHELF™ rang of wire mesh decks come into their own…
Wire mesh decking:
Wire mesh decking is placed on the top of the pallet racking beams and is important is any selective pallet racking system. The easySHELF is made up of two components. Firstly, the support channel, which rest on the loading beams and provides most of the support. And secondly, the wire mesh, which provides additional coverage across the support bars to create a complete shelf.
If you are wanting a more uniform support than just the pallet supports, then the wire mesh decking is the way to go. The Wire mesh decking provides extra support to damaged pallets and provides the versatility to store cases that are not palletized too. You might have seen some warehouses using a wooden alternative to wire mesh. But wire mesh decking is preferred by many warehouses and fire inspectors. They allow sprinklers to spray through the decks to the lower racking levels and reduce damage caused by fire. We have written a blog to inform you of the benefits of wire mesh over wooden decks.
Hopefully, you now have all the information you need to decide what support would best suit your pallet racking system. If you have any more questions, our sales team are always here to help.