Whether you’re sourcing your pallet racking from us here at Colby Dandenong or another supplier, you may be tempted to try and safe money by installing it yourself with your existing workforce, whether that’s your warehouse team or some other employees. While this is certainly possible, it’s something we usually advise against.
Let’s talk about the pros and cons of installing your own pallet racking so you can make a better decision.
Why Install Pallet Racking Yourself?
Pallet racking installation isn’t that complicated, so naturally a lot of business owners think that they and their team can do it themselves, and honestly, they’re not always wrong. Some of the biggest challenges in pallet racking installation are having the right tools and equipment. For example, not every business has access to or experience with using a scissor lift. But if you have one (or the experience), that’s one hurdle that’s out of the way.
However, from there, things can get more complicated. For obvious reasons, it’s important that pallet racking it level, which can be a challenge on some warehouse floors. This is one of those things that gets easier with experience and, assuming your team doesn’t put up pallet racking very often, it’s something they may struggle with.
With this in mind, basic racking like selective pallet racking can often be pretty simple to put up, but as the racking gets more sophisticated, like with push-back pallet racking, the installation process gets a bit more complex and it’s easier to get it wrong if you don’t know what you’re doing.
What initially starts out as an effort to save money can quickly become expensive when mistakes add up.
Safety And Certification Is Always A Concern
Improperly installed pallet racking can be a major safety concern for businesses and warehouse workers. Because of this, pallet racking needs to be certified as safe in order to comply with relevant Australian Standards. From there, a pallet racking safety inspection needs to happen every 12 months in order to re-certify it as safe.
If your team isn’t experienced in pallet racking installation, they may miss an important part of the Australian Standard, meaning the racking can’t be certified as safe and, in some cases, needs to be taken down and erected again, costing time and money. With that in mind, some businesses won’t certify a racking installation they haven’t done themselves because they don’t know what the installation process was, again wasting time and money.
Basically speaking, there can be risks when installing your own pallet racking. Any time and money saved by self installation of pallet racking can be lost by some simple mistakes made by an inexperience team.
Speak To Us About Pallet Racking
If you need advice on the best pallet racking for your business and need help installing it, speak to us today. We’re always happy to provide advice and find the warehouse storage solution to fit the needs of your business.
