Racks and stacking structures require a PSR (or PSHSR) in the province of Ontario. Givens Engineering provides PSR services for racks. A PSR is a Prestart Health and Safety Review which is required by the Ontario Health and Safety Act, Reg 851, Section 7 for “Material, articles or things are placed or stored on a structure that is a rack or stacking structure”.
Barriers Encountered in Rack Crane PSRs
Racking presents unusual challenges for PSR administration:
Identifying the Supplier
Usually a rack will have no nameplate and no identifier of the manufacturer. Sometimes, however, there will be a tiny logo, stamped into the steel of a column, for example.
Identifying Lifting Capacities
Once the manufacturer is discovered, the manufacturer has no incentive to release to you capacities or spans or any other information. Often there is no on-line data. In this case, it will be necessary to hire an engineer to do a strength analysis and then seal a drawing, doubling or tripling the cost of the PSR.
Rack Reconfiguration
Shop floor staff constantly reconfigure racks. They typically would never consider the effects on documentation. Many shelves can be added; cross bars can be shifted; racks can be attached end-to-end or made to be stand-alone. The PSR must be seen as a document that captured the rack at a moment in time and must be accompanied by photos.
Rack Deficiencies
Almost all racks have some form of damage. Usually a PSR on a rack will list a set of deficiencies. It will be a judgment call as to what damage has to be repaired and what can be tolerated. Damage is often caused by collisions with forklifts or by workers attempting to move or make changes to the racks.
How PSRs are Conducted for Rack Cranes
The PSR would consist of a site visit to look at the racking and how it is installed, followed up by a report. The report would consist of 3 parts:
Scope of Work
The designated engineer would begin by describing the rack requiring the PSR and delineating what surrounding equipment is not part of the PSR.
Observations and Deficiencies
The engineer would then note their observations and note any deficiencies, which is the bulk of the report. The report would contain written observations, layouts, photographs, etc., and ends with a list of deficiencies, if there are any.
Letter of Compliance
This is what a Ministry of Labour inspector will ask to see as proof that a PSR has been done, and which usually states that the bridge crane is compliant with the Occupational Health and Safety Act providing that a number of deficiencies are corrected.
If a rack was not mass-produced and appears to have been custom-made, the PSR has to begin with a drawing sealed by a Professional Engineer licensed in Ontario. If no such drawing exists, the rack will have to be reverse engineered and then have an engineering analysis done, all of which can be costly.
Givens Engineering follows CSA A344:17, among other specs, when assessing racks.
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