Material Storage Rack Compliance

[MachineTooler]

I've recently been assigned "Safety Coordinator" as one of my "hats". Our first survey yielded this problem (among others)

Does OSHA have a specific description saying how any storage racks have to be installed? I've surfed their site and others for far too long now. It's time for help.

We have racks about 12 feet high. We have stored items weighing 800 lb. and above on the top shelf. My opinion is that they should be bolted together and bolted to the floor. Myself and others here thought that was "OSHA Spec". Where would I find that?

Another person thought that having working areas on the other (open side) of the racks was a violation. That certainly sounds reasonable, but where does it say that?

The owner of the company wants to see what the "OSHA Specs" says. Anybody know where to find this information?

Thanks for any help you can lend, Dave (the Machine Tooler)

 

[chicopee]

Since you did not state the commodity stored, I am assuming that you are dealing w/ non-liquid material. There are fire protection regulations governing rack storage. Sprinklered rooms and in-rack sprinklers may be requires depending on commodity stored on racks, height of rack storage, rack spacing and misceallaneous other variables. Check your NFPA on rack storage since OSHA would be following their standards.

 

[umreng]

See

http://www.osha.gov.

If the area in question is a construction site, see Part 1926. If the area in question is not a construction site, see Part 1910.

 

[ADT123]

I would strongly suggest that regardless of what the OSHA Regs require, the first point of call is the racking manufacture. In most cases the manufacture design have had to design the base plates with anchor bolts in mind to prevent uplift in the event of movement.
It is also worth noting in the majority of cases the uplift is cause by impact. I would strongly suggest a risk assessment would identify that collision protection devices may be required and these need to be bolted down.

An Australian reference is
Australian Standard
AS4084
"Steel Storage Racking"