Waiting on racking

My mom used to say "Good things come to those who wait." I take after my mom. She wasn’t too smart either.

I HATE waiting. That two minutes it takes my toaster to burn my Pop Tarts in the morning is downright painful. Not to mention how painful it is to eat a charred, molten Pop Tart.

My boss hates to wait too. He waited almost five months to get a building permit for our new racking system. You shoulda seen him by the end of week seven. He was screamin’ and cussin’ up a storm. No, wait, that was the week I drove our lift truck off the dock. It was week eight by the time the permit process started getting under his hide.

Too bad he didn’t read this article I saw recently. It was released by Steel King, and it said you oughta bring your rack supplier in early in the planning process to keep your schedule on track. Yeah, I hear what you’re thinking—“what else would you expect a rack company to suggest?” Well, it quoted this guy, Tony Landeros, President of Permit Services of California, a material handling permit expeditor on the left coast. This quote in particular mighta given my boss a reality check:

"While the permit process usually takes from 3 to 6 weeks from beginning to end, it can take as long as 16 weeks. Each city, county and state has their own ordinances that must be met, and some cities require full compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) before issuing a permit."

Ya gotta get this right the first time or ya might be ready to retire by the time the permit comes through. Common screw-ups include "dead-end" aisles, rack systems blocking doorways, and a lack of aisle space. Guilty on all three counts, your honor.

California requires detail drawings of the storage rack base plates, columns/post attachments and the anchors used – even with equipment from 5′-11" to 8′-0" tall! Usually, most states require permits only when heights go above that.

Here’s what else you usually need for a permit:

– Structural calculations by a civil or structural engineer, registered in the state where the work is done,

– Component detail drawings,

– Project drawings showing a complete floor plan with cross sectional views plus connection details of the project;

– A facility site plan.

Screw up on any of this stuff and you’ll be in “hurry up and wait” land.

Even if you get the building permit, the fire permit inspection could get ya. Pick systems or elevated work areas tend to complicate things. Fire marshals don’t let you slide if you miss a detail.

So do your research. Check out the regs in your state and municipality. Do some web searches. Steel King’s got some good info. And don’t forget to check out The Rack Manufacturers Institute (RMI). They publish a racking design spec. And the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) each publish a steel design specification. 

I gotta go. I hear my boss comin’. I think he found the dent my forklift made in his nice new rack.