Cantilever Racking Inspections
Cantilever racking holds your most awkward, heaviest and longest loads. Timber, steel, tube, plasterboard, conduit. When it fails it fails dramatically. Our SARI inspectors hold the additional cantilever qualification and know exactly what to look for in these specialist systems.
Tell us about your cantilever system and we’ll come back within one working day with a price.
Pallet racking and cantilever racking share some inspection principles but the structures behave very differently. Cantilever uprights are typically larger, often free-standing, and resist moment forces from the arms rather than vertical compression alone.
The damage profile is also different. Long stock means long leverage. A small dent on a cantilever arm can have a much greater effect than the same damage on a pallet beam. And because loads are often loaded by side-loader or counterbalance from the side, impact patterns on the column and arms are unique to this style of system.
The standard SARI qualification covers adjustable pallet racking. Cantilever requires an additional, separate qualification, which our inspectors hold.
Our cantilever inspections work to SEMA Code of Practice standards and cover every element that contributes to the system’s stability:
Carcassing, sheet material, structural timber, mouldings. Indoor and outdoor cantilever systems including covered yards.
Bar, sheet, plate, RHS, tube. Heavy-duty cantilever often loaded by overhead crane with unique impact considerations.
Plumbing, HVAC, conduit, scaffold tube. Long, smooth, awkward loads where end-stops and arm spacing matter as much as capacity.
Stacked or vertically-stored sheets where load distribution and arm condition directly affect product safety and quality.
Long flat-pack, mattresses, soft goods on long cantilever. Often lighter load but high-volume cycling and pick face damage.
Raw bar stock, extrusions, profiles, finished long parts. Often located in production areas with high forklift and side-loader traffic.
Cantilever damage often hides in plain sight. The system might look fine until you look at it the right way. These are the issues we most commonly find on inspections:
Single or double-sided, indoor or outdoor, hand-loaded or crane-loaded, and roughly how many runs and arms. We’ll send a quote within one working day.
A SARI inspector with the cantilever qualification attends site. We work around your operation, photograph and log every defect, and assess compliance against the original manufacturer’s specification where available.
Within five working days you’ll receive a full report including site plan, every defect plotted and graded, photographic evidence, and clear remedial actions for each finding.
We’re available afterwards to discuss findings with your team, your insurer, or your auditor. Need replacement arms or columns? We can introduce you to trusted suppliers.
Yes. Cantilever racking is work equipment under PUWER, and is covered by the HSE’s HSG76 guidance and the SEMA Codes of Practice in the same way as pallet racking. The annual expert inspection requirement applies equally.
No. The standard SARI qualification covers adjustable pallet racking only. Cantilever requires a separate, additional qualification through SEMA. Always ask whether your inspector holds the cantilever qualification before they attend site, particularly if cantilever is your primary storage system.
The same as pallet racking: an expert inspection at intervals of no more than 12 months, plus weekly internal checks by a trained PRRS. In high-impact environments, particularly outdoor builders’ yards, more frequent expert inspections are often advisable.
Yes. We regularly inspect outdoor systems for builders’ merchants and timber yards. The inspection includes additional checks for corrosion, base plate condition relative to the slab, and any wind loading provisions in the original design. We’ll need access in dry conditions where possible.
Yes. Many of our cantilever inspections are on legacy systems where the manufacturer has changed hands or ceased trading. We assess against general SEMA standards and structural principles, and where original drawings are available we cross-check against them. Where they’re not, we work from the dimensions and configuration on site.
Bent or drooping arms caused by historic overload. The arm has yielded and won’t recover, which means it’s now operating outside its design capacity and must be replaced before the location is reloaded. Often the team running the warehouse hasn’t noticed because the bend developed gradually.
We can. Strictly speaking the inspection report covers compliance and structural condition, but we’re happy to comment on layout efficiency, load notice clarity and operational practices that affect damage rates. These observations sit alongside the formal report rather than within it.
Yes. Many of our multi-site clients have a mix of cantilever and pallet systems. We schedule inspections together where possible, send a single consolidated proposal, and produce reports that line up so your H&S team can see compliance status across the estate.
Many of our cantilever clients also have adjustable pallet racking on site. We can inspect both in a single visit, with consolidated reporting, to keep things simple.
