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Racking Inspection Stats and Facts

FACTS

  1. Structural Collapse: Undetected damage to beams, frames, or welds can lead to full or partial racking collapses, endangering workers below.
  2. Falling Materials: Loose, poorly stacked, or unbalanced items can fall from heights, striking workers during stocking or retrieval.
  3. Overloading: Exceeding weight capacity due to lack of inspection weakens racking integrity and increases the risk of failure.
  4. Impact from Equipment: Forklift or pallet jack collisions with racking structures often go unreported and cause hidden structural compromise.
  5. Missing Safety Pins or Clips: Improper assembly or missing locking devices can lead to beam dislodgement and collapse during normal use.
  6. Improper Installation or Modifications: Unapproved changes, uneven floors, or poor anchoring create dangerous instability under load.
  7. Lack of Regular Inspections: Failure to follow scheduled inspection routines allows damage and unsafe conditions to worsen over time.

STATS

  • In the US, warehouse-related injuries nearly doubled from 42,500 in 2019 to over 80,500 in 2022, with racking collapses and strikes contributing significantly due to inadequate inspections.
  • Forklift impacts cause 90-95% of rack damage in US warehouses annually (2020-2025), underscoring the need for regular inspections to prevent collapses.
  • Rack collapses rank among the top 10 causes of US warehouse accidents, with an estimated annual economic cost of $36 billion from incidents linked to poor maintenance and inspection failures.
  • In Canada, approximately 348,747 lost-time injury claims were accepted in 2022, with transportation and warehousing sectors—reliant on racking—accounting for a disproportionate share due to structural failures.
  • OSHA reports that storage-related incidents, including racking failures, account for 8% of all US warehouse fatalities between 2020 and 2025.
  • In Ontario, Canada, monthly racking inspections are required under OHSA, with annual in-depth checks preventing an estimated 20-30% of potential collapses in high-traffic warehouses (2020-2024 data).
  • From 2020-2022, US struck-by injuries from falling racking or loads caused 16% of warehouse fatalities, often preventable through bi-annual inspections as recommended by OSHA.