Mobile racking can work in most storage applications and companies appreciate the fact that mobiles either save them space or double storage capacity. However, as with any other mobile equipment, mobile racking must be treated with care. Companies have realised that rack damage caused by careless forklift operators is an avoidable expense. However, there are no short cuts to correctly training forklift and reach truck drivers.
Accredited Training, a forklift and crane training company based in Somerset West, understands the need to prevent rack damage. Its instructors have noted that the following can happen in cold stores and warehouses.
- No proper selection of operators.
- No medical and eyesight checks for operators working in mobile applications.
- Protective clothing supplied to operators does not keep them warm.
- No heated cabs in some cold stores.
- No specific forklift training for mobile applications.
- Warehouse and cold store supervisors often cannot recognise bad driving practices.
These factors lead to rack and product damage, as well as the threat of serious injury in the pressurised operations of a warehouse or cold store. In some cold storage situations, supervisors do not spend sufficient time in the freezers to see what’s actually happening. Rack loading capacities can be ignored and pallets dangerously placed in the racking.
All of the above can result in expensive repairs. Accredited Training offers high quality initial and refresher forklift training and even supplementary training for operators working in mobile racking. It also offers a management seminar to enable supervisory staff to recognise bad driving practices.
