Pallet Racking and Warehouse Shelving

Pallet Racking and Seismic Codes: Is Your System Engineered Properly?

Your warehouse needs a high-density storage solution, but failing to consider seismic risks when designing warehouse racking could lead to devastating risks. In recent years, pallet racking systems have grown substantially in size. After all, the taller the rack, the more storage capacity you have. This increase in size, however, has led to an increase in the complexity of designing a safe, effective storage solution. In seismic zones (those prone to earthquakes), tolerances are tighter and errors are not acceptable at all. Therefore, you need to ensure your warehouse system was engineered to code and meets all seismic requirements.

What Zones are Subject to Seismic Requirements?

Across the United States and Canada, there are some areas that are designated as having high to extreme probability for seismic activities. These areas are mostly on the west coast, consisting of California, areas of Washington, some areas in Nevada and others in Montana and Utah. In Canada, the Natural Resources of Canada lists the country’s seismic zones to include:

• Offshore BC areas
• Cascadia
• St. Elias and the Southwestern Yukon
• Northern and Southern Cordillera
• Interior Platform
• Southern Great Lakes
• Northern Ontario
• West Quebec
• Lower St. Lawrence
• Northern Appalachians
• Laurentian Slope

What Causes Pallet Racking System Failures?

There are numerous reasons a pallet rack can fail, and not all of them are seismic activity related. Some of the reasons you could experience a failure include:

• Poor storage rack design
• Incorrect assembly or installation
• Wrong material equipment used to load/unload the racking system
• Operator error
• Overstocking or maxing out load limits
• Structural integrity issues with the flooring, walls or other support systems

How to Ensure Your Pallet Racking System is Seismic-Ready

To ensure your pallet racking system is earthquake ready, you need to hire a company that specializes in shelving in Vancouver. At Arpac, we understand the seismic requirements and risks in the Vancouver region and surrounding areas. Our Engineering department works closely with our Design and CAD departments to ensure our Manufacturing division has all of the correct information to enable them to build Storage Systems that are as safe as they are functional and productive.

Call us at 800-946-8511 to learn more about our engineering and seismic design processes. Fill out an online contact form to request more information about shelving and pallet racking in Vancouver, in addition, check out our Material Handling solutions. Call us today to set up an appointment so we can provide a site assessment on how you can improve density and productivity, in a system design built to code.