Pallet Racking Inspection Frequency — UK Legal Requirements Explained

UK law and SEMA guidance establish three distinct levels of inspection, each with different frequency requirements and different people responsible for carrying them out.

Every person working in or around the racking has a duty to report damage immediately if they see it. If a forklift driver clips an upright, they must report it to the Person Responsible for Racking Safety straight away.

HSG76 requires that a nominated Person Responsible for Racking Safety carries out a formal weekly visual inspection of all racking. This must be recorded in writing — a simple log book or digital record is sufficient.

The PRRS must be trained and competent to identify damage and classify it correctly.

At least once every 12 months, your racking must be inspected by a competent person. In practice this means a SEMA Approved Racking Inspector (SARI) — an independently accredited professional qualified to issue a compliant risk-rated report.

This is the inspection the HSE will ask to see if anything goes wrong.

Regardless of when your last annual inspection took place, any racking struck by a forklift truck or other mechanical handling equipment must be inspected before it is reloaded.

A single forklift impact can compromise the structural integrity of an entire bay without any visible damage to the beam.

Failure to maintain a proper racking inspection schedule can result in HSE Improvement Notices, Prohibition Notices, fines starting at £20,000 and rising to unlimited amounts under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Personal prosecution of company directors under Section 37 of the Act is also possible. More importantly, a racking collapse can kill.