Shelving and racking

Storage shelving fails collections in two ways: chemically, by emitting acids into the space around the objects, and physically, by making people reach, stretch and carry in ways that cause accidents. The first gets discussed; the second causes more damage.

Material

Powder-coated steel is the default and deserves to be. It is strong, dimensionally stable, cleanable, non-combustible and, once the coating is fully cured, chemically inert. The caveat is in that last clause: a coating that has not completed its cure continues to emit, so new racking should be aired before objects go onto it, particularly in an enclosed store.

Anodised aluminium and stainless steel are equally sound and generally more expensive.

Wood and wood-based boards emit organic acids for years. In an open, ventilated store the concentration stays low and the risk is modest. In a small, sealed store, or in a closed cupboard, it is a real problem, and it is the reason air quality treats storage furniture as a primary source.

Where wooden shelving already exists and replacement is not affordable, the practical mitigation is to box the contents. A well-specified enclosure puts a barrier between the object and the emitting surface, and it is far cheaper than new racking.

Loading and stability

Racking should carry a stated load rating per shelf, and that rating should be visible on the racking rather than in a file. Overloading is common, gradual and invisible until a shelf deflects.

Runs need to be braced or fixed, and freestanding units above a certain height need securing to the structure. In seismic regions this is a specialist question, and elsewhere it is still worth doing because a store aisle is a confined space.

Deflection matters beyond safety. A shelf that sags puts a boxed object under uneven support and encourages boxes to slide together, which makes retrieval harder and rougher.

Layout, which is where the damage happens

Almost all handling damage occurs in the few seconds around a bad reach. Layout decides how often those seconds occur.

• Aisles wide enough for a person carrying an object with both hands, plus a trolley if one is used.
• A place to put an object down within a step of every bay. A person holding something with nowhere to set it will improvise, and improvisation is what breaks things.
• Heavy and fragile material between knee and shoulder height. Light, robust, rarely used material high up.
• Nothing stored on the floor, both because floors are the dampest part of the room and because floor-level retrieval is the most awkward lift there is.
• A clearance below the lowest shelf that allows floor cleaning and lets a leak be seen before it reaches anything.
• Clearance from external walls, so that a cold or damp wall is not in contact with the racking and air can move behind it.

Mobile racking

Roller racking roughly doubles the capacity of a given floor area, and for many collections that is what makes proper boxing possible at all.

The trade-offs are real. It introduces a mechanism, and mechanisms fail. It means objects experience small movements whenever a neighbouring bay is opened, which matters for anything unstable on its shelf. It concentrates load, which is a structural question for the floor. And a store packed to capacity with mobile racking has no room to work in, which brings back the handling problem the racking was meant to solve.

Labelling and finding

An object that cannot be found gets searched for, and searching means moving neighbouring material. Clear, permanent bay and shelf labelling, matched to the collection record, reduces handling more than any equipment purchase.

The same applies to the box: a legible label on the front face, so that identifying a box does not mean lifting it down and turning it over.