Summary
In the present work, it is carried out with the intention of protecting the life of the material that is used to keep the product that is stored in good condition as well as maintaining a control of the worker's health within the work area (warehouses) That is why a good inspection inside the warehouse is recommended to maintain security, to carry out maintenance to the areas of the shelves that are used in the warehouses, to be able to control the material they handle.
The safety of the human being is one of the main characteristics that companies use, this is because the care of the human being is one of the reasons to measure the quality of the work that is carried out. Keeping the work areas safe guarantees the safety of the man to be able to carry out his activities in the same way, a greater benefit is obtained. The risks must be controlled by means of the security and the care that is given to the material that is used to work.
Introduction
Storage on shelves inside warehouses implies storing products at height, and therefore exposes assembly and operating personnel to different risks.
The incorrect use of racks and handling means, the use of inadequate load carriers, as well as the tendency to use the facilities more intensively, lead to working conditions that tend to be less rigorous. In these circumstances, the risk of damage due to blows, erroneous maneuvers and mistakes that can occur at work increases.
If shelving bumps occur and are not properly addressed, it creates a latent hazard that can lead to disaster and result in serious risk to the facility, stored materials, and most importantly, to the people who handle them.
For these reasons, it is necessary to perfectly approach the problem in a broad way, determining the conditions of proper use of the warehouse and verifying its compliance perfectly.
This correct use will be better defined if the circumstances that give rise to anomalies or improper use and their consequential damages are known.
The concept of security implies, guarantee, good operation, avoids accidents and damages. Maintenance is also a factor to be able to work safely, the evaluation and the treatment that is necessary to give to the damages produced.
They will make it possible to establish prevention plans tailored to each facility.
Definition
A shelf is an instrument or tool that is used to arrange materials, obtaining a better location and location at the time of use. Storage on shelves consists of placing the different types and ways in which the material is accommodated, registered or loaded on the shelves, which can be of variable height, using manual or mechanical handling equipment.
There are different types of shelf storage
- Static storage: systems in which the storage device and the loads remain immobile during the entire process Mobile storage: systems in which, although the unit charges remain immobile on the storage device, the combination of both experiences movement throughout the process.
The most characteristic elements on the shelves can be found and observed in the following figure to be able to have a broader panorama about it.
There are different types of shelf storage
1. Security elements:
Protections: They are designed to avoid the impacts of the handling systems in load handling operations.
The EN 15512 standard establishes that:
- Impacts on the racking struts must be avoided with proper training of the truck operator and through the adoption of safety measures, including the use of protections. As a minimum, protections must be placed on the racking struts. Corners located in traffic corridors or at corridor crossings where trucks change direction.
2. Identification of the facility's benefits
Signage posters will be placed on the shelves in visible places on the shelves, usually preferably on the headers, where the maximum loads per level, per frame, their distribution and the separation between levels are indicated. This is carried out in such a way that the worker is aware of the correct use to be made and thus be able to obtain an excellent job.
3. Charge unit
The load unit is made up of the product that we are going to or we want to store plus the auxiliary elements that we use to be able to handle said product (pallets or containers) (UNE 58011: 2004). In this way the product is cared for and maintained safely.
Pallet: A pallet is a rigid horizontal platform (it has a lattice shape), used as a base to group goods, constituting a unit of load. The most used are made of wood, although they can also be plastic or metal.
Container: They are portable and resistant elements that keep the materials together with this aim and care that they are not watered, that allow the location and stacking of merchandise, forming a load unit for subsequent handling and storage.
Pallets or lost-type cargo items will only be used for transportation (when carried on long trips). Although they are standardized, they lack sufficient strength for stacking and should only be used for storage on shelves if they have structural elements such as intermediate crossbars, gratings, trays or other suitable elements.
The standardized pallets will conform to the provisions of the corresponding standards:
EN 13382: Pallets for handling goods. Main dimensions.
EN 13698-1: Specifications for the production of pallets. Part 1: specification for the construction of 800 × 1200 mm flat wooden pallets
EN 13698-2: Specifications for the production of pallets. Part 2: specification for the construction of flat wooden pallets of 1000 × 1200 mm.
4. Means of maintenance
We illustrate below the means of handling most frequently used in warehouses. For the actions carried out in the warehouses, it is recommended that the means used to transport the products need a good inspection by the inspector. The means can be, hand pallet truck, electric pallet truck, stacker, order picker, diesel counterbalance, etc.
5. Overloads
The effects of overload occur not only when the maximum load established in standards or what a shelf can support is exceeded, but also due to the following circumstances:
- Concentration of load units on the beams
This occurs when the weight is exceeded on a pallet, that is, more load than normal is placed on top, then the beam gets damage, such as looseness.
- Drop and sudden landing of the load. It can cause permanent deformation of the side member and loss of its strength condition. They can damage the top rail. However, if the blow is not excessively strong, the shear bolts will prevent it from slipping out of its housing in the strut.Load eccentricity (loads are not centered). By deflecting the load forward or backward with respect to its centered position, unbalanced stresses are produced on the beams that make up the level and on the frames themselves. If not corrected, the most loaded beam will have a greater deflection than it should. Uneven distribution on the pallet.
When boxes of the products are placed on the pallet, the distribution must be of the same size x example if 20 boxes are put on a pallet, 10 should be placed on one side and 10 on the other.
- Descent and non-horizontal perching. It can lead to permanent warping and arrows. This happens because the pallet does not park firmly on the shelf (Maybe it is lying on its side).Horizontal drag or push when positioning the load. Turning can occur and the load can be turned over on the beams.
The causes of overloads are almost always improper actions of the truck. Deformations, sometimes permanent, can be accompanied by damage to the connector and falling of the side member and its load. Therefore, it is very important to avoid the effects of the beam overload due to their manipulation.
6. Maintenance of facilities
An adequate maintenance program will be carried out for all the facilities, and it is advisable that it be carried out by the manufacturer of the racks or in accordance with the same, since the list of events of what should be done in case of a problem with the shelf. All this must be clear because if it is not established the problem can increase.
The parts of the shelving should be checked in a listed way to be able to keep a very specific control, the inspection dates should be noted.
These programs must consider, among others, the following aspects:
- Facilitate preventive maintenance programs. To this end, checklists will be drawn up to facilitate easy inspection and communication of the anomalies detected within the investigated area.
Establish a plan of periodic inspections for the detection, communication and recording of easily visible anomalies such as: order and cleanliness of storage areas and circulation routes, deformed or damaged elements, verticality defects, weakening of the ground, lack of plugs. security, damaged loads, etc., to proceed to their immediate repair.
- If the turnover of goods and the hours worked in the warehouse are very high, that is to say, they are constantly working without stopping, a specific plan of periodic inspections with damage reports will be established, which at least include: Daily visual inspection, carried out by the staff of the warehouse, to detect easily visible anomalies such as: deformed beams and / or frames, lack of verticality of the installation (longitudinal and / or transverse), cracking of the floor, absence of leveling plates, broken anchors, absence of safety pins, deteriorated load units, absence of identification plates, damage to the slab, etc. and proceed to its immediate repair or replacement Weekly inspection, carried out by the warehouse manager,in which the verticality of the structure and all the components of the lower levels (1st and 2nd) will be verified, with notification, qualification and communication of damages. Monthly inspection, carried out by the person in charge of the warehouse, also including the verticality of the installation of all levels and general aspects of order and cleaning of the warehouse, with notification, qualification and communication of damages. Annual inspection by an expert, carried out by independent, competent and experienced personnel in this activity; with notification, qualification and communication of damages.also including the verticality of the installation of all levels and general aspects of order and cleaning of the warehouse, with notification, qualification and communication of damages. Annual inspection by an expert, carried out by independent, competent and experienced personnel in this activity; with notification, qualification and communication of damages.also including the verticality of the installation of all levels and general aspects of order and cleaning of the warehouse, with notification, qualification and communication of damages. Annual inspection by an expert, carried out by independent, competent and experienced personnel in this activity; with notification, qualification and communication of damages.
All repairs or modifications to which the racking status reports give rise must be carried out by our own qualified personnel, external (in which case they must be endorsed and approved by the expert who made the annual report or by the company responsible for the design) or the manufacturer. In order to maintain safety guarantees, the racks must be empty of load, unless a prior study of the risk of carrying out the repair with partial or total load.
After a blow and depending on the damage, any deformed element will be repaired or replaced, verifying the verticality of the shelf. The new element must be identical to the one replaced and the application of heat (welding) must never be used since the mechanical characteristics of the steel would be altered.
7. Performances in front of a shelf
When there is damage to a shelf, a series of actions will be carried out in which knowledge must participate in order to carry out the actions to resolve a case as soon as possible. Below are the color levels to identify the level of risk, the damage is classified into three risk levels: green, amber and red, and the process to be followed in each one is specified.
Green risk
This classification is considered when the limit values of the figure are not exceeded
1. At this level, only maintenance is required and the installation does not need to decrease its storage capacity.
Amber risk
This classification applies as long as the limit values are less than twice those specified below:
- Struts bent in the direction of the frame plane, with permanent deformation equal to or greater than 3 mm measured in the center of an interval “a” of length of 1 m. Struts bent in the direction of the plane of the beams, with equal permanent deformation or greater than 5 mm measured in the center of an interval “a” of length of 1 m. Permanent deformations equal to or greater than 10 mm in the truss elements (horizontal and diagonal) and in any direction. For lengths less than 1 m, the value of 10 mm can be linearly interpolated.
Red risk
This classification is considered when the limit values are equal to or exceed DOUBLE those specified in figure 1. The measurements specified in sections A) and B) must be carried out with the appropriate measurement rule and in contact with the surface of the strut, placing it on one side of the strut concavity point. In all cases, the reference rule must have its ends within the concavity and at the same distance from the maximum or central arrow.
conclusion
Maintenance and safety is the main thing to keep a work area in good condition, that is why it is recommended to have, carry and maintain good control of the activities carried out within a warehouse, the worker must know what he is doing, such as does it and how to react in case of making a mistake, it is recommended to carry out well-detailed inspections to be able to work correctly so we can obtain higher quality work.
Bibliographies
- National Institute for Safety and Hygiene at Work Technical Guide for Safety and Health at Work (RD 485/1997) Standard UNE 58.003-78 Storage Madrid 1978 MECALUX SA Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona) National Institute for Safety and Hygiene at Work Technical Guide for evaESMENA SA Gijon (Asturias)
