New RMI spec heightens safety and longevity
With approval from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the Rack Manufacturer’s Institute (RMI) released the new 2008 RMI Specification and Commentary.
By Sara Pearson Specter, Editor at Large -- Modern Materials Handling, 5/1/2008 8:00:00 AM
The organization also proposed that the next International Building Code (IBC) reference the RMI specification for storage rack design. With all 50 states now referencing the IBC, RMI standards for storage rack design will be used across the country, says Dan Clapp. Clapp serves as RMI’s engineering chairman and specifications advisory committee chairman and is the director of engineering at Frazier Industrial.People will see three significant changes in the new standard, Clapp says.
- Seismic requirements are now backed by extensive research comprising full-scale shaker table tests of storage rack. “An industry-wide series of tests showed that RMI member connections have inelastic rotational capacity to survive a severe earthquake shaking—meaning they will bend, but not break,” explains Clapp. This is key to the IBCs, says Clapp, because it acknowledges that storage racks behave differently from buildings. “Since storage rack components look like building components—with beams and columns for example—some people erroneously think they should be designed like a building, but there are fundamental differences between the two,” he observes. For instance, building seismic design does not include the forces generated by the building’s contents. Alternately, storage rack design, says Clapp, should include the seismic forces generated by the rack’s contents: pallets and their loads.
- The safe use of walk-pick modules. “Anywhere there are elevated platforms where workers walk along and pick products off the racks to pallet truck or conveyor, you need to have safety enhancements,” says Clapp. The specification now covers items such as floor loading stairs and hand rail guarding requirements associated with the open side of the racking.
- A clearer delineation of the storage rack user’s responsibilities. “Aside from collisions, maintenance—or lack thereof—is probably the No. 1 cause of distress in storage racks,” Clapp notes. “It’s the area that an owner can best affect the safety of the structure.”
The new standards recommend that users establish and follow a maintenance program to best maximize the longevity of their racking equipment.
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