Is a racking inspection a legal requirement in the UK?

Yes, in effect. There is no regulation titled 'racking inspection', but pallet racking is work equipment under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER). Regulation 5 requires work equipment to be maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair. Regulation 6 requires inspection by a competent person at suitable intervals where safety depends on the installation conditions. HSE guidance HSG76 (Warehousing and Storage) translates that duty into an expert inspection at least once every 12 months.

Which law actually applies to pallet racking?

Three layers apply together. Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 places a general duty on employers to provide a safe place of work and safe plant. PUWER 1998 Regulations 5 and 6 apply specifically to maintenance and inspection of work equipment. BS EN 15635 is the standard governing the use and maintenance of static steel storage systems, and it is the source of the inspection regime and damage limits that SEMA's Code of Practice applies in the UK.

Who counts as a 'competent person' for a racking inspection?

Someone with the training, knowledge and experience to identify racking defects and judge their significance, and who is sufficiently independent to report them objectively. In the UK the recognised route to that competence is SEMA's SARI scheme — a SEMA-Aligned Rack Inspector. SEMA does not approve companies, reports or training; SARI accreditation applies to the individual inspector.

What happens if we do not have racking inspections?

Breaches of PUWER 1998 and the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 are criminal matters. HSE can serve improvement or prohibition notices, and prosecution can follow, carrying unlimited fines and, in the most serious cases, custodial sentences for individuals. In practice the immediate problem is evidential: without inspection records there is nothing to show the maintenance and inspection duties were discharged.

Is the SEMA Code of Practice itself law?

No. The SEMA Code of Practice and BS EN 15635 are not statutory instruments — they are the recognised industry standard and the applicable European standard. They matter because they define what a reasonable, competent inspection looks like, which is the benchmark against which compliance with the statutory duties in PUWER 1998 is judged.

PUWER 1998 · HSG76 · BS EN 15635

Is a Racking Inspection a Legal Requirement?

Q: How often does the law require racking to be inspected?

PUWER does not name an interval — it requires suitable intervals based on risk. HSE closes that gap in HSG76 by recommending an expert inspection by a technically competent person at least once every 12 months, supported by weekly documented visual checks by a nominated Person Responsible for Racking Safety (PRRS) and immediate reporting of any impact.

Reviewed by Mr Thelwell, SARI Accredited Inspector (SARI No. 0100)

SARI accredited · HSG76 · BS EN 15635 · PUWER 1998

The short answer is yes — but not because a regulation exists with "racking inspection" in its title. No such regulation exists, which is exactly why the question keeps being asked. The duty arrives indirectly: pallet racking is work equipment in law, and work equipment carries statutory maintenance and inspection duties.

This page sets out which law applies, what it actually requires, and how HSE guidance turns an open-ended duty into a twelve-month cycle. For the regulation-by-regulation detail see PUWER racking inspection; for how HSE enforces it in practice see HSE racking inspection.

The five layers that create the duty

Two of these are statute and carry criminal liability. Two are HSE guidance and standards that define what compliance looks like. Together they are what an HSE inspector, an insurer or a court will measure your regime against.

Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, s.2

The general duty. Employers must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of employees — which includes providing and maintaining safe plant and a safe place of work. Racking that has never been inspected is difficult to defend as safe plant.

PUWER 1998, Regulation 5 — Maintenance

Work equipment must be maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair. Pallet racking is work equipment. Damaged uprights, missing beam clips and failed floor fixings are maintenance failures in the terms of this regulation.

PUWER 1998, Regulation 6 — Inspection

Where the safety of work equipment depends on the installation conditions, it must be inspected by a competent person at suitable intervals, and the result recorded and kept. This is the regulation that makes documented racking inspection a legal obligation rather than good practice.

HSG76 — Warehousing and Storage (HSE guidance)

HSE's guidance puts the interval on the duty: an expert inspection by a technically competent person at least once every 12 months, alongside weekly documented visual checks and immediate reporting of impact damage.

BS EN 15635 and the SEMA Code of Practice

Not law, but the recognised standards. EN 15635 governs the use and maintenance of static steel storage systems; the SEMA Code of Practice applies it in the UK, including the red, amber and green damage classification and the measurable damage tolerances an inspection is reported against.

What compliance looks like in practice

HSG76 and BS EN 15635 describe a three-tier regime. All three tiers are expected — the annual expert inspection does not replace the checks that happen in between, and weekly checks do not replace the annual expert inspection.

1. Immediate reporting and daily visual awareness

Carried out by trained warehouse staff as part of normal work. Any impact damage or defect is reported immediately to the nominated PRRS and the affected bay isolated pending review.

2. Weekly documented checks by the PRRS

The Person Responsible for Racking Safety is a nominated, trained employee who carries out documented weekly inspections using this checklist and maintains the site's damage log.

3. Annual expert inspection

Carried out at least once every twelve months by a technically competent person. In the UK the recognised benchmark is a SEMA-aligned, SARI accredited inspector. This is the report an HSE inspector will ask to see.

The practical framework for tiers one and two is our SEMA racking inspection checklist, and tier two depends on a trained nominated person — see PRRS training.

Regulation 6 and the record-keeping trap

Regulation 6 of PUWER does not just require inspection — it requires the result to be recorded and kept until the next inspection is recorded. This is where otherwise well-run sites come unstuck. An inspection that happened but was never written up, or a report that cannot be located, is evidentially close to no inspection at all.

Keep the written expert inspection report, with every defect located to a bay reference and classified red, amber or green.
Keep the weekly PRRS records, signed and dated, including the weeks where nothing was found.
Keep the damage log showing what was reported, when it was actioned and by whom.
Keep evidence that red-rated bays were unloaded and taken out of use before repair, and that amber items were closed out within their deadline.
Keep the current load notices, and evidence they were re-issued after any reconfiguration of beam levels.

What happens when the duty is not met

Criminal, not contractual

Duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and PUWER 1998 are criminal duties. HSE can serve an improvement notice requiring the regime to be put in place, or a prohibition notice stopping use of the racking immediately. Prosecution carries unlimited fines, and in the most serious cases individuals can receive custodial sentences. Separately, insurers routinely ask for inspection records after a collapse or a stock-loss claim.

Put a compliant inspection regime in place

Rackstor Safety Inspections carries out SEMA-aligned, SARI accredited expert inspections nationwide, with a written report inside 48 hours that is built to satisfy PUWER 1998 Regulation 6 record-keeping. Fixed-price quotation, usually the same day.

0800 654 6955