Racking failures and fatalities involving material-handling equipment (MHE) in the UK are relatively rare. To ensure its new CEC was industry leading in all aspects, including safety, Croda chose to install RCP’s Rhino safety support system. This innovative approach to racking support uses wire suspension cables from the top of the racking rather than reinforcing from the bottom. This means that if there is an impact-event the structure remains standing, protecting both employees and stock.

Croda is the name behind high performance ingredients and technologies in some of the biggest, most successful brands in the world, creating, making and selling speciality chemicals that are relied on by industries and consumers globally. Its new CEC will act as the company’s worldwide distribution hub for products made at its UK manufacturing sites and global network. The site will also be home to a new International Employee Training Centre, providing development opportunities for the Company’s global workforce.

Croda’s Operations Manager Antony Andrew commented: “It is a core principle at Croda that all employees should expect to return home at the end of their working day without being harmed in the workplace. Within our new Customer Excellence Centre we are delighted to have exceptionally high safety and environmental standards, this includes our purpose-built racking system, which offers the highest level of protection to employees at the site.

“We chose to integrate RCP into the design of our new custom-built warehouse as safety of colleagues is paramount. We believe that we should be going beyond mandatory requirements for safety, ensuring that we always prioritise the health, safety and wellbeing of our employees.”

With a store capacity of circ. 34,000 pallets, RCP’s safety system was installed to racking at a height of 14-meters under an 18-meter roof canopy and encompassed 39 racking leg runs each at 160-meters, with RCP’s safety system securing around 1,900 legs it took a total of five-weeks from start to finish to install.

RCP Company Founder Craig Attwell commented: “Eliminating the risk of racking collapse and providing business continuity resilience, RCP’s safety system uses wire cables suspended from the building’s steel structure. In the event the building’s structure is not suitable, then we can install a secondary steel structure to form a support for the suspension cables, and not affecting structure integrity as any compromised rack-load would not be transferred.”

UK and European patented and designed to provide safer working environments for warehouse professionals, RCP’s system has been installed in numerous ambient, chilled and frozen warehouses and storage facilities in the UK, Ireland and Europe and can be installed anywhere pallet racking is used. With any form of pallet racking, especially above six meters, there is an amplified risk of racking failure. A damaged leg under load experiences considerable down pressure, forcing leg racking to buckle and lose the structure’s ability to endure its intended load capacity, eventually leading to rack collapse, with the potential domino effect to any other racking attached to, or in close proximity.

Craig Attwell added: “RCP’s protection system has eliminated the risk of racking collapse, is maintenance free and provides Croda with the knowledge that their team are operating in a safe working environment.”