Impacts from forklift trucks or other moving equipment are a major cause of accidental damage to industrial steel storage racks. Such damage — which occurs most frequently to the portion of the columns below the first level of beams — can significantly reduce the load bearing capacity of the total rack system, causing a serious safety concern. As it is neither practical nor affordable to design racks capable of resisting maximum impact forces, there are a variety of design options and guarding accessories available to limit the potential and severity of such damage.

During the design of the base rack system, the structure can be specified with larger and/or heavier rack columns, column reinforcements and inserts, heavier upright frame bracing, and different rack column shapes. These design options can increase the ability of the racking to resist impacts when it is first installed.

For existing systems, however, adding rack guards as a retrofit provides extra protection against damage from collisions. To limit the damage a forklift impact can cause, rack guards can be applied to two different areas of a structure:

A variety of guards are offered for placement at the ends of rack rows. Common types include:

Guards to protect rack columns are applied to the aisle-side facing uprights. These include:

Before adding rack guards to an existing storage rack system, owners should consider the following when evaluating the different options.

Notably, although reinforced design options and rack guards improve rack safety by limiting forklift damage, it’s also critical to address the root causes. Among them: forklift driver training and management, rack system layouts with adequate operational clearances, clean and well-lit environments, and selection of options and accessories at the time the system is specified.

Looking for a list of the full range of protective accessories available for racking installations? RMI’s publication, “Considerations for the Planning and Use of Industrial Steel Storage Racks,” lists more than 20 different options in section 3.4.2.