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Seismic Considerations for Steel Storage Racks Located in Public Areas

Report focuses on the increasing use of rack storage solutions in retail environment, and how to make it safer

The The Building Seismic Safety Council (BSSC), established by the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS), develops and promotes building earthquake risk mitigation regulatory provisions for the nation. It has created an extensive report on seismic considerations for racking located in public areas (such as warehouse stores like Cosco, Sam's Club, or Home Depot).

Given the proliferation of these stores, the associated risk to the public is greater. The traffic between rack aisles is greater than at a typical warehouse, and the people involved are typically not trained and used to dealing with large racks. During an earthquake, occupant safety in a big box store depends on the structural performance of the building and and on the performance of storage racks (and their contents). Aside from the risk of rack collapse, an earthquake may cause stored products to dislodge and fall.

The report focuses on single deep selective pallet storage racks. There are recommendations to improve current practices and long term recommendations to improve standards.

The report is in PDF format, and may have some useful information for rack users in non-public areas. To read it, you will need the Adobe Acrobat reader, which is free at www.adobe.com.

Read the report