OSHA Tie Off to Steel Storage Racks

[Structural Matt]

I have been asked to provide a letter stating that certain steel storage racks in a warehouse can be used as tie off points for workers installing additional gear on the tops of the racks. I have experience using the RMI to analyze the gravity and lateral capacities of these systems, but do not have any experience with these as tie off points.

I understand OSHA requires the tie off points to be able to handle a 5,000 LBS load and the racks in question are rated to support more than 6,000 LBS per beam level, but beyond this I have not found any explicit language from RMI or OSHA allowing racks to be used as anchoring points. The only thing I have found on the subject is an article from 2019 (

https://www.rmiracksafety.org/2019/05/30/where-to-safely-tie-off-when-installing-storage-rack/)

which seems to suggest the RMI has provisions for this, but I have not seen them.

Any guidance on this request?

 

[TLHS]

You'd need to evaluate the racks. You could ask the rack manufacturer if they've accounted for this, but I'd be surprised if they did, unless they've specifically considered fall arrest for installing the upper levels of their own racking. Are they empty? Can you prove that the load to a given point in the rack when full will be higher than the arrest load and then use that as a basis as long as it's empty? Then do some kind of evaluation of local loading to make sure there isn't a local mechanism?

The other question would be whether there are stability implications if you're loading it certain ways without dead weight helping to stabilize. I'd worry about the implications of falling off the side and having a swinging force.

OSHA's not going to have a blanket allow/disallow for this specific thing. If it's evaluated by an engineer they'll consider it okay.