Main Point: Changing pallet racking in-house might look like a small adjustment, but it can change the whole behaviour of the rack. Moving a beam up to fit a taller pallet underneath may seem practical, but that beam is part of the rack’s strength, load capacity, clearance and compliance. Once you lift that first beam level too high, particularly above that 1.8 metre mark, you can expose the frame to more forklift damage and make the safe working load sign no longer accurate. So it is not just a beam. It is part of the whole system. Get the original design checked before you change it, or if it has already been changed, get it inspected and brought back to a known, compliant position before it becomes a safety, insurance or liability problem.
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The most common thing we see, and we usually pick it up during the inspection process, is that the beam heights have been changed. We might install something in 2025, come back in 2026, and the lower beam has gone from something like 1.5 metres high to over two metres.
Usually, someone has had the idea of putting a tall pallet on the ground underneath the first beam level. Fair enough. You can understand why they have done it. They are trying to use the space. They have a pallet that does not fit where it used to fit, so they move the beam up.
But what they often do not realise is that it affects the total load capacity of the racking.
That is where the problem starts.
There are ways and means around it sometimes, but the question then has to be asked: why did that happen, and is that the best location for that particular item, given that it affects the load capacity?
Quite often the answer is no.
There is usually a better location. It just has not been discussed openly and carefully with the consequences in mind. Then during the racking inspection process, we have to say, “I’m sorry, your racking no longer complies because you’ve changed the elevations and it won’t meet your load capacity.”
At that point, the issue gets brought front and centre.
You either have to downrate it and reduce the load capacity, change the racking protection to make it more secure, or go back to what it was.
It Is Not Always Just Moving A Beam Up A Notch
If you move a beam 50 to 75 millimetres up or down, generally that is not going to do much. But once you get above about 1.8 metres from the ground to the first beam level, it becomes quite critical.
Probably 80% of the racking damage we see is caused by a forklift in the first 1.5 to 1.8 metres. That is where the forklift is operating. It is where it is making contact with the frames. If you are going to have damage, it is usually in that first 1.5 metres.
The beam at that lower level does more than just hold pallets. It helps increase the load capacity and the strength of the frames.
As soon as you take that beam away, you have increased vulnerability to the frames from contact with the forklift.
So it is a dynamic interplay between what the racking should be, the movement of the forklift, the experience of the forklift operator, and what you are trying to achieve in terms of load capacities.
That is why it is not just a case of moving a beam up because it is convenient.
What A Beam Level Actually Means
A beam level is the horizontal position of the beam, which is what the pallet sits on.
It is positioned either from the ground below or from the beam above. A beam can typically be 100 millimetres thick, so the height is taken from the ground to the bottom of the beam.
Then the next height is taken from the top of that beam to the bottom of the following beam above it.
That space is your clearance.
It has to allow for the pallet, the stock that sits on top, and at least 100 millimetres of clearance so the pallet can be manoeuvred safely into that gap.
That clearance is not random. It ties back to the original design, the intended pallet heights, the forklift being used, and the safe working load sign.
The Safe Working Load Sign Is Not A Guess
A bay of racking is typically two frames with beams sitting between them. That bay might allow for, say, 2,000 kilos per level. Depending on how many levels you have, each level may have 2,000 kilos sitting on it. But the frames themselves have their own total load capacity. That is based on the thickness of the frame, the type of bracing, the width of the upright, and how it is braced. There are things we can do to increase a bay of racking from 6,000 kilos up to 10,000 or even 12,000 kilos, depending on those parameters.
That is why it is important to get a clear understanding of:
- How many pallets do I need to store?
- What is my available roof height?
- How high can my forklift go?
- How high are my pallets?
All those factors together create the scenario where we can say, “Well, you need 6,000 kilos per bay,” or “You need 8,000 kilos per bay,” and therefore you need this type of beam and this type of frame.
Unfortunately, there is an understandable body of opinion that says one pallet racking frame is the same as the next, and they should all be more or less the same.
They are not.
It is like comparing a car to another car. No two cars are quite the same, and nor is the application. Everything has to be taken in the context of where you are and what you are doing.
Beam Deflection Is One Of The First Warning Signs
One of the most common consequences of changing beam levels is that the racking no longer matches the safe working load sign.
Then you start to see issues like beam deflection.
Beam deflection is where the beam bows in the centre. There is a certain amount of deflection that is considered normal, up to say 150mm, but beyond that, it means the beam is overloaded.
Once that happens, it becomes incredibly unsafe.
The beam can collapse. Stock can come down. If it is at height and someone is below, obviously it can result in a fatality.
So again, it comes back to the basics.
Your heaviest loads go on the ground. Your lighter loads start as you go higher. That sounds obvious, but it is not always what happens in practice.
Uniform Loading Matters As Well
The other aspect that is probably not well understood is uniform loading. If you have two pallets sitting side by side and the total capacity for that level is 2,000 kilos, each pallet should be approximately one tonne. Quite often, we see people store one pallet on one side at 1,500 kilos and another pallet on the other side at 500 kilos.
Technically, yes, they are within the total beam level of 2,000 kilos.
But it is not uniform.
All the stress and load is being handled on one half of the beam. It is not universally distributed.
That is a bad situation to be in.
Experienced warehouse operators know that pallets should be side by side and roughly the same weight. That leads to a much safer and more practical operation of the warehouse.
What The Standard Expects If You Want To Change The Configuration
If you want to change your warehouse configuration or pallet racking configuration, you should call the original supplier first.
Explain what you are trying to do.
The supplier can pull out the original design and specifications, then make an assessment as to whether that change is still within the scope of the engineering for that particular rack.
If it is not, there may still be options.
It might mean boosting the strength of the frames with additional bracing. It might mean introducing a heavier beam that allows higher load capacities. It might mean extra rack protection to safeguard the frames from impact or damage.
It might also mean installing mesh decks so non-compliant pallets have a flat surface to sit on.
That is another whole area in itself: the use of non-standard Australian pallets in warehouse racking and the safety risks that can come with that.
The point is simple. Do not just move it and hope for the best.
If You Have Already Moved The Beams, Get Back To A Known Position
If the warehouse has already moved beams around, give us a call.
Let us know what has changed, and we can determine whether those changes are still within the scope of the original specifications.
If they are not, we can send a team in to bring the racking back to where it should have been.
Or, if the business has changed its scope of operations and everything has moved on, we may need to reconfigure the racking to better suit the current and future needs of the business, rather than clinging to what it used to do in the past.
That happens quite a lot.
Businesses grow. Stock profiles change. Pallet heights change. Forklifts change. What worked three years ago may not be the best layout now.
But that needs to be worked through properly.
What If You Do Not Know Who Installed The Racking?
If you know who originally installed or supplied the racking, go back to them first. That is where a lot of the original design information will be.
But if that is not an option, for whatever reason, we can still help.
If we know the brand of racking, chances are we can give some advice that will help guide the site back to where it should be.
Quite often, we find businesses have relocated warehouses and moved the racking themselves. Then Workplace Health and Safety comes in and asks for the safe working load signs, which in many cases are not there.
Or there is some sort of internal accreditation requirement, whether that is ISO or another system, and suddenly the racking has to be addressed properly.
An inspection is usually the easiest way to look at all aspects of the racking, rather than focusing on one part of the equation.
One of the most common clues that a beam has been moved is when we see beams without safety locking pins.
Someone has moved the beam but not put the pins back in.
That straight away tells us it has been moved, it is not in its original position, someone has forgotten to put the pins in, which makes the system non-compliant.
Then the question becomes: what have you changed, why did you change it, and what does that imply for the overall engineering?
What Is Actually At Stake?
If you ignore this advice and just make the changes yourself, there are a few things at stake.
First, you run the risk of severe injury to a worker.
Second, you can lose a lot of stock if there is a collapse.
Third, if you have been told there is an issue and you do not take action, you create another problem entirely.
If a report has been provided in writing, and it has highlighted issues, and no action is taken, then that becomes much harder to defend.
We have had clients where, for several years, items identified in a racking inspection have not been actioned for one reason or another.
If there is then an incident, and an insurance claim follows, there is a real possibility the claim may not be paid out. That is not a position any business wants to be in.
Moving a beam might look simple.
But if that beam is part of the racking’s strength, capacity, clearance, compliance and safe working load, then it is not just a beam. It is part of the whole system. Get it checked before you change it. If you are unsure contact the team at QLD Storage Systems today.
